The Aftermath of the Storm
by Mylee
Summary: Classic Broe fic...The last installment of "The Storm" Trilogy. It was written at the end of 2001/beginning of 2002. This story picks up three years after "The Storm" ended. Chloe, Hope and Greta are returning to Salem after their self-imposed exile, ready to take on Stefano DiMera and right a few wrongs in their lives. How will certain people react to their return?
1. Chapter 1

This is the last installment of **The Storm Trilogy**. This story starts three years after **The Storm** ended. It was written and posted during the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002. It was completely self-edited so I apologize in advance for any typos/etc. that may be here! It is rated M for language and also for one adult scene, towards the end of the story.

 **Chapter One**

Chloe listened to the soothing sound of the jet as it carried the three of them closer and closer to Salem. She smiled at Hope and Greta, who were sitting towards the front of the jet and busy examining plans for the next month. J.T. was asleep in the next compartment, content to sleep and completely unaware of the mounting tension each woman was beginning to feel at the thought of returning to Salem, the place of their devastated dreams. None of the women had stepped foot on the sacred soil of Salem since they left it almost exactly three years earlier.

She placed her cheek against the window as she pondered the reaction of certain people when they discovered their return. Nancy and Craig would be delighted to see her, she knew. They had flown over to Europe to visit their ex-daughter many times in the past three years, and Chloe had made it a point to visit them, too, as long as they weren't in Salem.

A crystal clear image of Brady Black interrupted her cheerful thoughts of Nancy and Craig, the parents of her heart. The blissful smile that had graced her face slid away as the jet carried her closer and closer to her now and forevermore soulmate. Chloe couldn't forget him, no matter how hard she tried to. God, how hard she had tried over the past three years! He was simply a part of her; heart, mind, and soul.

A sad, rueful look entered her eyes as Chloe began to recall some of the amazing memories she had of Brady Black. She remembered vividly all of the times they had shared together. Singing "The Marriage Of Figaro" on the pier, hanging out at the penthouse, playing basketball, singing at the gazebo, the pancake dinners at the pub…The list went on and on of so many memories that Chloe cherished about her all-too-brief time with Brady Black. Time had not diminished any memory.

Chloe realized that, as much as she wanted to still be with Brady, it wasn't going to happen. Her father had effectively killed the dream that meant the most to her, with that damn deal she had made with him. Giving up her singing career (instead of accepting the name "DiMera") had meant nothing to her, and that was a dream she had cherished all her life. Cutting all ties with Brady Black had left a shattered heart that Chloe had never been able to completely repair. She flashbacked to that horrible scene on the pier, the culmination of Stefano DiMera's plan for his youngest daughter. The night Chloe had let Brady Black walk out of her life, forever.

Chloe recalled the various expressions on Brady's face that night; happiness at first, then concern, and then anger that concealed a deep hurt. "I broke his heart that night," Chloe whispered to herself in remembrance of Brady's reaction to her decision to end their relationship. "I sacrificed so much in order to save him and his family from my father." She laughed slightly at herself, and how she had stupidly become a pawn in Stefano DiMera's cruel little game. "At the very least Stefano kept his word. He has not committed any harm against the Blacks."

"Oh god," Chloe said in alarm as the prospect of seeing Brady became more and more possible with each passing second of the jet's flight. "It's been nearly three years since I've seen Brady Black. What will happen when we finally come face-to-face, after all of these years? Does he still despise me? Or, worse, feeling nothing for me?" She shook her head sadly as she answered her own questions, "You'll never be able to find out, Lane. You agreed to cut all ties with Brady years ago. The agreement has to stand, at least until we take DiMera down."

She mentally pushed the thought of Brady Black aside for now as she physically pushed her long dark hair out of her stunning face. Thinking of Brady always brought such emotional pain to her, but she had never been able to prevent thoughts of him from breaking into her mind. In the words of Tim McGraw, she simply saw him "everywhere". "Think of something else, think of something else," Chloe chanted lightly to herself.

She started to replay the last three years that she had spent in the company of Hope, Greta, and adorable J.T, hoping that would prevent anymore Brady Black memories from invading her mind. The foursome had moved quietly to one of Greta's estates in France. They had spent a month in relative seclusion, working out the kinks in their plans to take down DiMera.

During this reclusive interlude, Hope had finally regained full memory of her time as Princess Gina, which she had then decided to use as the catalyst in their fight against DiMera. "He trained me to steal valuable works of art," she had revealed one night to her friends as they gathered in the large, opulent dining room. "I'm certain he is still active in the world of art thieves. We simply have to gather enough information about his illegal activities."

So, their goal to take down Stefano required knowledge of any potential art thefts. Hope had also explained DiMera's consistent plan for stealing the art. "He would have me paint the pictures, complete a nearly perfect copy. Then, John and I would steal the paintings, usually while attending a large party. John, Stefano, and I were able to move around the social scene of Europe because we were accepted, due to his wealth and my title as Princess Gina."

A plan was starting to be born among the three ladies. The success hinged on their acceptance into this elite world that Stefano used to be extremely active in. In order for the three of them to gain access into this world of the elite, the three of them had decided Chloe would need to accept her rightful title as "princess." Chloe had been reluctant to accept the title, but she had nonetheless, for the sake of their plans. Anything to further the cause of their father's downfall. Greta's title was already well known in society, so that would add credence to Chloe's acceptance of hers.

Hope had also believed that presenting mere titles may not be enough to break into the highly elite social world she had inhabited as Princess Gina. With Greta's and Chloe's assistance, the three of them had devised a plan that would create a certain amount of mystery and allure around the three of them, as well as provide a much-needed career for the trio.

Ironically, the three women had decided to embark on a career in the fashion world. It had taken six months for them to be ready to present their first magazine to the world, but it certainly created a sensation.

Chloe smiled as she remembered how they had named their magazine. The three of them had been reclining on the porch of Greta's mansion, gazing out into the peacefully approaching night in late February. "We need a name for our company," Greta said as they were pondering their moves. "Something catchy, that will make people curious about the three of us."

"Of course," Hope agreed with her as she swayed slightly in the porch swing. "The only way we can break fully into society is if they allow us to. Creating a mystery around us will certainly do that." She thought for a moment, and then suggested, "A one-word title, that will really catch everyone's attention. Something like, oh, I don't know, unforgettable, invincible, beautiful…"

The three of them brainstormed a list of words, but could not agree on any. None of the word seemed to fit them or their situation, until Chloe recalled Belle's last conversation with her in Greta's hallway the day they left Salem. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed in excitement to her friends. "I've got it! The perfect word that describes us." She paused slightly before turning a huge smile onto the other women. "Notorious! What other word could describe us more?"

Four months later, their fashion magazine, Notorious, took the publishing world by storm, both in Europe and in the United States. It had severely damaged the following of Bella and Basic Black's counterpart, Simply You. Chloe, Greta, and Hope were all models for their magazine. However, they modeled exclusively for their own magazine, causing an even larger demand for it. Two and a half years later, their magazine was still sitting smugly on the top.

The fervor created by the introduction of their magazine caused a warm welcome everywhere for the three women. They were invited to every society happening, big or small. Hope, Chloe, and Greta went to each one, continuing to create an illusion of mystery, allure, and aloofness. They became the darlings of the social world.

The social world would have been shocked if they had known the real reason why the three women had planned their entrance into their sphere so intricately. They used every opportunity to discover if Stefano was still continuing his thievery among the rich. Of course he was, simply with new players.

A rogue ISA agent named Ethan Sinclair had met up with the women a year and a half ago. He had kept a close eye on them from the beginning, especially Greta and Chloe, thinking that they could have been working for their father. When he discovered, instead, that they were collecting information to nail DiMera to the wall, he cheerfully offered them his assistance. His assistance was instrumental in quickening their pace against DiMera. They were finally ready to take him on. Sinclair himself was not yet ready to go with them to Salem. He would be along later.

Chloe shook her head as she cleared it from the whirlwind of the recent years. "So much has happened in the past three years," she said as she felt the plane continue through the air. "Now, finally, we are ready to take back our lives."

She stood up and walked over to her sister and her friend. She could hear them quarreling about an upcoming article for the magazine. Chloe laughed at them as she sat down next to them. "You two are so amusing," she said as Greta and Hope took a small break from arguing. "You always fight about the tiniest detail in our magazine, but every issue comes out perfect!"

Greta and Hope grinned at each other. "I think we're just expressing our apprehension about our arrival," Hope said as she began to vocalize her conflicting emotions to her dear friends. "I, for one, am really nervous about the reception we are going to receive from the people in Salem. Especially Bo and Shawn." Shawn had blatantly refused to communicate with his mother, in any way, shape, or form, despite many attempts on Hope's part. Bo, well, she hadn't tried with him, knowing any attempt would be completely useless and ill-received.

Greta chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip. "I know what you mean, Hope. We are the "notorious" ones, after all. It'll be interesting to see how Salem responds to us."

Images floated through each woman's mind. Chloe immediately thought of Brady and his family, wondering how they would respond to her arrival. An image of Belle and her final words to Chloe floated vividly through her mind. "Just don't think my family or Brady will ever welcome you back to Salem with open arms." Belle had then walked through the door, never once looking back at her former friend. Shivers of apprehension began running through her as their destination became closer and closer.

Greta vividly recalled her last parting scene with Colin. She wondered if other people in Salem would be as cruel to them now. She certainly hoped not, but realized that they probably weren't Salem's favorite people right now. Notorious, indeed, she thought in silent sarcasm.

Hope remembered all of the happy times with Bo and Shawn, wishing that things could return to them. But, Hope thought in frustrated reality, that will only happen in my dreams. DiMera has seen to that. As much as she realized that Bo and Shawn might not want to see her again, she was looking forward to their first meeting. She had so missed seeing them.

Greta valiantly shook off her oppressive thoughts about their return to Salem. Then, she placed her hand on top of Hope's and pulled Chloe's down also, so that their hands were stacked together, in a symbol of invincible unity. The three women made eye contact as Greta assured them, "We can do this, just like we've down everything else in the past three years. Together."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Brady was working intently in his office at Basic Black on an important contract when his office door flew open. He looked up quickly, his face revealing his annoyance as Kate Roberts stalked haughtily through the door, his father at a more dignified pace behind her.

"Kate, calm down," John said behind her soothingly as he closed Brady's door in order to give the three of them some privacy. He placed his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to bring her emotions under control.

"Dammit, John!" Kate nearly yelled at him as she shrugged his hand off. "I can't be calm right now." She rolled the magazine that was in her hand up and started to bat Brady's desk with it as she said, "I can't believe it. I just cannot believe it. They've gotten the jump on us. Again." Each word was punctuated with a "slap" from the magazine on Brady's desk.

Brady looked at Kate inquisitively as he stood up and came around his desk to meet them. "Kate, what's going on?" he asked, straining to hold onto the remains of his patience. Brady and Kate had managed to come to an agreement while they both worked at Basic Black. They would work together, and respect each other, in a business sense. But, when it came to their personal lives, it was hands-off. The arrangement worked surprisingly well, probably because Brady recognized Kate's expertise in the world of high fashion and Kate admired Brady's dedication to his job.

"This!" Kate said angrily as she finally threw the magazine down on Brady's desk, with the cover facing up. She pointed to the one headline with her finger. "We have been working so hard to get that interview. You know, the one about the senator? He divorced his wife and married his intern, causing a huge scandal. And look, they got it!" Kate threw her hands up in the air as she continued sarcastically, "How, I don't know."

Brady glanced down at the magazine lying on his desk. Chloe Lane's picture smiled up at him saucily from the front cover of Notorious. He should have realized this magazine had caused Kate's anger and frustration. She usually threw a fit every other month over this rival magazine that was run by his ex and her friends. Brady purposefully averted his face from the cover of the magazine, showing the carefully constructed emotional façade he had crafted to hide his true feelings regarding Chloe Lane. Brady would swear up and down that Chloe Lane meant nothing to him anymore to anyone who asked him about her. He sometimes managed to even convince himself.

John watched the mask settle over Brady's face again and sighed deeply. He knew his son well, and he knew that Brady was covering up his emotions about Chloe Lane. John realized that the night Chloe had ended things between them; she had shattered Brady's heart and stolen his soul. Brady had compensated for his emotions by working long and hard at Basic Black, while it appeared that Chloe had walked merrily away, without a scratch on her. She was apparently enjoying the social world of Europe as a princess and a famous model. John was one of the few people in Salem who realized the impact Chloe Lane still had on him. Sometimes, John wished he could have two minutes alone with "Princess Chloe" and reveal to her the extent of the emotional damage she had caused his son.

John pushed those frustrating thoughts aside as he handled the crisis in front of them. "Now Kate," John began placatingly to Kate, holding his hands up to her and ignoring Brady's lack of reaction at the news for now, "I know you have worked hard to try to get the interview. But it's been printed. We need to concentrate on something new for our women's fashion magazine."

Kate turned around to face John as she sputtered at him, "I don't get it. How can they continue to do this? None of them had any experience running a company. They are killing us and pulverizing Bella. I don't understand how they can continue to be this successful."

Brady decided to chime in with his two cents about the "stolen" news story, as well as prove to Kate and his father that Chloe meant nothing to him anymore. "They have a unique quality, Kate, something most magazines don't have. Two princesses own the company. The three of them travel in high society circles in Europe. They're well known, popular, wealthy…Everything the public likes. And they are also exclusive models for their own magazine, which only gives them another added dimension for top sales of their magazine." Brady's eyes revealed none of the inner turmoil that still swirled around the mention of Chloe Lane. Instead, they showed most of the world a steely determination. Only the people closest to him could see the pain below the surface of the steel.

John nodded at his son proudly as he calmly discussed the popularity of his former girlfriend's magazine. "That's a fact!" He started to steer Kate out of Brady's office. While he was leaving, he said to Kate, "We'll have to think of something new to jumpstart our women's fashion magazine."

Kate followed John out the door as she answered him snidely, "This shouldn't happen, John! They should be completely ignorant of the fashion world! I don't know what I'll do if they beat us again!" She closed the door to Brady's office loudly behind as they left.

Brady leaned down and picked up the magazine off of his desk. He sat on the corner of his desk as he looked at it more closely. Now that his audience was gone, Brady could afford to spend more time inspecting it. He gazed intently at Chloe's face on the front cover. Her face had graced so many of the covers for the famous and popular magazine. She looked so…sophisticated, Brady decided as he searched for the right word. Not like the Chloe he had known before the night of the Christmas Ball almost three years ago. Before he could take that stroll down memory lane, Brady threw the magazine across the room in an expression of frustrated anger. He followed the flight of the magazine.

"You are over her, Black," he said forcefully aloud as he watched the magazine hit the wall and then land on the carpeting of his office. Of course, it landed with the cover facing up. Chloe's face continued to smile at him, almost as if she was mocking him and his feelings. "Completely and totally over her. Forget her, and everything about her. Concentrate on the pain she caused to help you move on." That was how Brady had made it through the early days after the break-up. He had lived and breathed his pain, shutting out all other emotions, until he was able to present to the world of Salem a closed man who would never open himself up to that kind of rejection again. He also successfully buried himself in his work at Basic Black, using his job as positive healing therapy.

Brady walked intently over to the magazine and glanced at it again, making no move to pick it up. "What happened to your dreams, Chloe?" he asked the front cover. "Sometimes I wonder why you aren't wowing them at the Met. Not like it really matters anymore."

Brady stepped over the magazine and reached for his suit jacket from the coat rack. He shrugged his well-muscled shoulders into it. Then, he paused and made an involuntary move to pick up the magazine again. Brady stopped himself quickly, and said forcefully, "No. Leave it there, where it belongs." He walked over to the door, opened it, and then closed the lights in his office on the picture of his former soulmate.

He walked at a quick pace down the hallway. As Brady was about to enter the elevator, John hailed him from the doorway of his office. "Wait up, son!"

Brady came to an abrupt halt by the elevator, waiting for his father to hurry down the hallway towards him. "Yeah, Dad," Brady said when John neared him, "What's up?"

John threw his arm around Brady's shoulder. The secretary at Basic Black smiled as she viewed the scene between the handsome Black men. Many of the female employees at Basic Black secretly watched Brady Black, hoping to catch his attention. Not one employee had succeeded so far.

"Anyway," John was saying to Brady, "Belle just called me. She says she wants to meet the whole family at Tuscany, tonight. Marlena and I were already planning on eating there, so we don't have to change any plans. Can you make it?"

The sides of Brady's mouth tipped up in what nearly constituted a grin. "I shouldn't have a problem with that," Brady said. His social calendar was usually lacking, unless there were plans with his family. Another thing he could blame Chloe for. He had never been able to have a deep, meaningful relationship with someone else since her. "What time does Belle want us there?"

"Well, Shawn and Bo are getting off late at the police department. He won't be able to leave until after 6:00 tonight. Belle thought 8:00 would be a good time for dinner."

"Tuscany, at 8:00," Brady confirmed to his father with a nod of his head. His eyes became friendlier as he talked to John, allowing more emotion to show through. "So, did Tink give any hint why she wants us to meet her there?"

John smiled widely at Brady as he repeated his daughter's words, "She says it's a "really wonderful surprise"!" He laughed and slapped his son on the shoulder.

An idea started to creep into Brady's mind, causing a mile-wide grin to split his face. "Ahhh. I wonder what it could be? A big development to report?" He knew that Belle was completely and totally in love with Shawn Brady, and that it would make her millennium to become "Mrs. Shawn Brady."

John nodded at Brady again. The same thought had occurred to him, also. He couldn't think of another reason why Belle would want the whole family and Shawn's father to be there. "I can't wait to find out."

"Until Tuscany, then," Brady said to his father as he entered the elevator. As the doors began to close, Brady couldn't resist adding, "It should be very interesting."

John laughed as Brady's voice floated to him before the elevator doors closed. He certainly hoped Shawn Brady made his little girl happy or else… "Yeah, Brady, it should be a very interesting evening."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Oh, here he comes!" Belle squealed from her spot at the table when she saw Brady making his way towards them. Belle had requested the most private table Tuscany had to offer for the evening. She wanted the celebration to be exclusively private, for now. She smiled as her handsome big brother swaggered up to the table. "Brady! I thought you weren't coming!" Brady leaned down and kissed her cheek in an affectionate brotherly greeting.

"Sorry, Tink," Brady said as he sat down in the remaining spot at the table, which was right next to her. "I got an important call right before I left my apartment."

John was about to ask what the call was about when Marlena gave him her famous "Don't even think about it!" look, complete with furiously fluttering eyes. He stifled his curiosity, realizing it probably had to do with the contract Brady was initiating for Basic Black. "Good to see you, son," he greeted Brady wisely instead of questioning him then and there.

Brady nodded at his father as he greeted the rest of the inhabitants of the table with a smile. "So, Shawn," he said to his cousin, "how is the Salem police department? Keeping you busy?" Brady had been able to put aside his anger at the Salem PD, mainly because of Chloe's help, a lifetime ago.

"It's still standing," Shawn answered, a little bit nervously, as he took a sip of his drink. He could feel himself start to sweat as Belle's brother looked at him knowingly. This is going to be a long evening. I'm glad my dad is here, Shawn thought as he made eye contact with his father, who looked at him sympathetically. Man, he'll kill me if I ever hurt Belle! Shawn correctly interpreted the look Brady sent his way.

Belle could see that Shawn was starting to become nervous. That was one of the qualities she adored…no, loved…about Shawn Brady. She also realized that it would have to be her who broke the wonderful news to her family and Shawn's father.

Bo looked at his son with deep pride, proud of the man his son was quickly becoming. He was so pleased that Shawn had decided to uphold the Brady tradition and become an officer of the law. A picture of Hope in her police officer uniform crossed his mind briefly before he mentally pushed her image away. She made her choices, he thought, even if they did ruin our family completely. "Well," he said, trying to distract himself from his own depressing thoughts, "now that everyone's here, what brought us all here tonight?" He had an inkling of an idea, too.

Shawn looked like he was about to hyperventilate. Belle's family was here, looking at him knowingly, and he only had his father for support. Sometimes he wished his mom was still in Salem. She had known how to put him at ease in every situation. Then, Shawn would remember the depth of her deceptions to their family and his wish for her would dissipate.

Belle could see that Shawn was definitely NOT going to be any help tonight as he nervously took another sip from his drink. "Well," Belle started off as Shawn's hand found hers under the table for strength, "Shawn and I have some wonderful news to share! We're getting married!" She excitedly held up her left hand, the hand she had carefully concealed from her family through the beginning of the evening.

Everyone's expression at the table revealed their delight in the news. "Man, that's wonderful!" Brady said as he stood up and shook Shawn's hand, which was slightly damp with sweat. Brady's smile widened when he realized that. I've still got it! he thought enthusiastically at Shawn's nervous response.

John rushed out of his chair and beat Marlena to Belle, giving her a long, hard hug. "I can't believe it, Doc! Our little girl! Getting married!" John exclaimed to Marlena over Belle's head.

Marlena pushed John out of Belle's embrace jokingly as she said, "Let me give her hug! You go and make Shawn even more nervous!" Marlena held onto Belle tightly, and whispered into her ear, "I'm so proud of you, Belle. You and Shawn will be so very happy together!"

Bo came up behind Marlena and laughingly ordered her, "Now it's my turn, Marlena!" He embraced the young woman who would soon become his son's wife and his new daughter. "I'm glad, really glad, to welcome you into the family! Wait until Mom and Pop find out."

Brady was the last one to hug Belle, and he held onto her the longest. "Oh, Belle," he said sentimentally, "I remember when you were still a little girl in pigtails, playing with your Barbie dolls."

"Brady," Belle complained as she affectionately slapped Brady sharply on the back, a move she had learned from Marlena. "That's so sweet!"

Brady stepped back to survey his sister, who had happiness radiating from her in waves. Even he, with his damaged heart, could appreciate the love she shared with Shawn. Such optimism really did belong in romance, even if he couldn't find it anymore. "I want you to be happy, Belle. You deserve all of the happiness in the world."

This time, Belle pulled Brady back into their embrace as she whispered lightly to him, so only he could hear it. "So do you, Brady." She was the other person besides their father who was completely aware the devastation Chloe created by her ultimate rejection of Brady and his love. She would always remember how he pulled himself together and continued on his with life, but never quite the same Brady he had been before Chloe Lane. Belle carried a very healthy resentment towards her ex-best friend, and would like to replay their last parting scene again. What she would only say to Chloe now…

Marlena picked up her glass as she announced, "This deserves a toast! Come on, everyone, pick up your glasses!" Everyone followed Marlena's directions, supremely happy for the young couple that was holding onto each other, their hopes, dreams, and young love reflecting in their eyes. Marlena batted her eyelashes quickly at her daughter and fiancé. "Shawn, Belle," she began, "I know I can speak for everyone here when I tell you how ecstatic we are! We love you both and wish you all of the happiness this world has to offer!" Everyone lifted their glasses in agreement with Marlena and seconded it with a hearty "here, here!"

"Oh, Mom!" Belle said as tears filled her eyes. She knew that she wouldn't be able to get through this evening without crying buckets of tears. "Thank you so much, everyone! We wanted you to be the first ones we told, before we told the rest of the family!" She turned to Shawn with obvious stars in her eyes and said, "Tonight is going to be perfect!"

In the Tuscany elevator…

Greta's hand reached for the "door closed" button on the elevator before the three of them entered Tuscany. She surveyed Hope and Chloe, who were standing to the side of her. Hope looked so glamorous in her long red dress, with a side slit up to her mid-thigh. She would turn every head when they walked through the door. And Chloe, well, she was drop-dead gorgeous in her short forest green flirty dress. The high heels adorning her feet emphasized the length of her long legs. She'll stop hearts at fifty paces, Greta predicted silently, and drop them at ten. Greta herself was clad in an elegant dusty rose gown, with criss-crossing spaghetti straps in the back. She knew that she looked great, too. The three of them had worked hard on their outfits, wanting to find the perfect combination that would show the people of Salem their strength.

"This is it," she said to Chloe and Greta as she brushed her chestnut hair out of her face with her free hand. "There will be no turning back tonight once we step out of this elevator. Salem will know that we are back! Are we ready?"

"Wait!" Chloe ordered Greta quickly before she took her hand off of the button. "I want to say something before we officially enter the world Salem again." Chloe took a deep breath as she began, "We're starting something big by coming back to Salem. I want to let both of you know that, whatever the outcome, I love you so much and appreciate how you helped me restore my life."

Greta said, "Ohhhh." She went to hug Chloe but remembered the button and wrinkled her nose. "Chloe, get over here, will you, so I can hug you!" She ordered Chloe, who complied, along with Hope. The three of them hugged, soaking up each other's moral support while Greta kept her finger on the button.

"I'm so nervous about tonight," Chloe confided to her closest friends in the world. "God, it wasn't hard meeting the Queen of England, entertaining foreign dignitaries, smiling "sweetly" millions of times for that damn camera…But, tonight, this is hard. The last time we were at Tuscany our lives started to unravel." She shivered slightly in remembrance of that horrible night that still had the power to give all of them nightmares.

Hope laid her arm on Chloe's shoulder. "We're here to finish putting our lives back together, Chloe. We are going to undo everything Stefano DiMera has done, and pay him back, at the same time." She looked triumphantly at her friends. "We can do this. And it starts right now."

Greta took a deep breath as she tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach. "All right," she breathed out to her amazing companions, "this is it! Stand tall, girls, and be proud! Let's show Salem what we're made of!"

The three women followed Greta's advice, standing straight and tall, and wiping any nervousness or frustration away from their face. Greta eyed their determined faces and decided it was show time. "Houston, we have lift off!" she said gaily to companions as she released the button. The doors swished open.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

The celebration continued at the Black/Brady table, where the clinking of the glasses for the toast momentarily drowned out the gasps of awe from the other diners at Tuscany at the amazing sight that stood elegantly poised in the doorway of Salem's fine dining establishment. "Have you set a date yet?" John inquired curiously to Belle and Shawn after he had taken his obligatory sip following Marlena's toast. The other conversations around Tuscany had completely stopped, but the occupants at the table hadn't noticed the complete standstill of the thriving restaurant.

Belle hesitated, and then she announced in her always-direct way, "Let's get this out of the way. I'm not pregnant!" Concerned and puzzled faces met hers, wondering where that statement had came from. Shawn reacted by blushing twenty-five shades of pink. Brady eyed Shawn evilly, planning on how, exactly, he would make him pay. "Anyway," Belle continued, unaware of the puzzlement she had created, "I've always wanted a Christmas wedding. So, Shawn and I have decided to get married, this Christmas Eve!"

The puzzlement cleared from everyone's faces and was replaced with relief. Marlena's eyes fluttered furiously again as she announced frantically to the table at large, "We don't have much time, Belle! There's so much to do. The church, the dress, the cake, the decorations…" She half-stood from her chair as she exclaimed nervously, "We've got to get started, Belle. Now!"

The whole table laughed at Marlena and her pre-wedding jitters. John pulled his harried wife gently back down into her seat. Belle replied calmly to her mother, with a large smile on her face, "Don't worry about it, Mom. We can start planning everything tomorrow. There'll be plenty of time to get everything done."

Brady grinned good-naturedly at his flustered stepmother. She so very rarely lost her composure. It was always enjoyable to watch the sophisticated Dr. Marlena Evans lose her famous cool. "Yeah, Marlena," he said, eyeing Belle with a look of amusement. "There's nearly two weeks before the wedding. Plenty of time."

Belle slapped her brother on the shoulder, who was sitting in the seat next to her. "Brady! You are not allowed to say things like that right now. This could become a very tense situation." She laughed in delight and clapped her hands together, so completely excited about her upcoming nuptials.

Brady laughed again at his sister's expense. He always enjoyed teasing Tink. "I know, Belle. I love making you squirm!" The whole table laughed again, enjoying the banter between the brother and sister.

As all of the teasing was happening at the Black/Brady table, a small sensation was occurring throughout the rest of Tuscany. Chloe, Greta, and Hope stood poised casually on the small landing as the majority of the diners turned and recognized them. There was a sudden quiet and then a quick murmur of voices as people pointed and looked as the three very beautiful women gracefully walked down the steps, blatantly ignoring the reaction their arrival had caused.

"Holy shit!" A man said loudly, close to the Black/Brady table, causing the people gathered there to look at each other in question. "I've never seen anything like this before! Look, over there, by the hostess stand." Continued murmurings ran through the diners.

His friend turned around and looked to where his friend was pointing. He couldn't pry his eyes off of the women meeting with the owner of Tuscany. "Whoa…Man, they are hot!" He thumped his hand hard a couple of times over his heart, to make certain it was still working properly. "Damn, they look so familiar, like they've stepped off a TV screen or magazine or something."

The commotion caused a sudden quiet at their table. Marlena fluttered her eyes frantically again as she eavesdropped on this loud conversation and looked quizzically about her. She finally noticed the sudden stillness of the restaurant, and then the hushed conversations. She shrugged her shoulders dramatically when everyone at the table looked at her. Marlena had the best seat to view the hostess stand from their table. The private table Belle had requested was hidden nearly from view by large, green plants. This was the reason why none of the occupants of the table had been aware of the new arrivals.

Marlena leaned over in her chair, taking a look to the side of the beautiful potted plants that blocked most of their table from view. She could only view the back of the three women who were being greeted by Maggie.

"What is it?" John asked with impatient curiosity. The others murmured in agreement, wondering what had caused the nearly standstill activity of the normally bustling restaurant.

Marlena waved her hand out at him, effectively shushing him. "I don't know yet. Let me see…" She trailed off as she witnessed Maggie enthusiastically hugging one of the women, with a jubilant smile on her face. "Maggie seems awfully happy to see them. They look very familiar, for some reason," Marlena continued as she stood up and peered around the plant, trying to get a better look at the new arrivals.

Marlena felt a shock of extreme surprise run through her as she got what she was looking for. "Oh dear lord!" she exclaimed slowly. She turned to the table, not certain how to break the news of what she had just seen with her own eyes to the people dining at the table. Her eyes opened wide with surprise and concern.

"Well?" Shawn and Belle asked at the same time. Brady used his hands to question Marlena. John looked on, with one eyebrow raised. Bo stared intently at Marlena, his excellent Salem PD police instincts just starting to kick in. Something interesting was occurring in Tuscany, he knew.

"You'll never believe it," Marlena said as she slowly sank down into her seat. She decided that seeing was better than explaining the unexpected sight to the whole table. "Ummm, ahhh, you had better take a look for yourself." She motioned again in the direction of Maggie.

John stood up immediately, towering over the large foliage by their table. "My god!" he exclaimed as his eyes immediately found the women who were casually walking to a table for dining, without any knowledge of the group partially hidden in the corner. He took a deep breath and rested his hands with a tight grip on the top of his chair.

"All right!" Brady explained with an honest grin to his father and Marlena.. "Now I'm really interested. First, the restaurant comes to a standstill. Now, everyone is talking mutely, as if there is some big secret. Two men swear they've seen some type of celebrity. And you two looked completely shocked. What gives?"

Both John and Marlena looked at Brady, and then glanced worriedly at each other. They wondered how he would take the news about who had returned to Salem. Their gazes reflected their joint concern for Brady.

Belle replied to Brady before her parents could, feeling frustrated with the new arrivals who were apparently destroying her celebration. "I'm going to find out," she said huffily to no one in particular.

Belle stood up and walked over to the edge of their table, where Marlena was sitting and looked over the crowd of diners. It only took her a second to locate the unusual sight at Tuscany. She covered her cheeks with her hands in a classic Belle pose when she realized who had caused the uncommon commotion. She turned her expressive face to the table, causing the rest of the occupants to wonder what was going on. "Ahh…." Belle said incoherently, trying to get the words out of her mouth. She could only point mutely with her hand in the direction of the surprising trio who were making their way to their table.

"Enough of this!," Brady exclaimed impatiently. "I'll find exactly what's going on." He stalked out of his chair and joined his sister by the foliage. Whatever was causing the shock on his family's face had disappeared from view, so Brady needed to step completely in front of the increasingly annoying large plant.

Brady's magnificent blue eyes searched the crowd intently, looking for the cause of the disturbance. He was able to follow the turned heads to the location of the new arrivals. Brady cocked his head to one side as he started to feel something electric shoot through him. He had only felt that electricity around one person before in his life. Finally, he located the three women but he could only see the backs of the women.

His eyes zeroed in on the woman in the sexy forest green dress. She seemed to be the source of the amazing amount of electricity. "No," he murmured quietly to himself when his heart and soul recognized the woman simply from looking at her back. He watched in extreme disbelief as that one person turned her head slightly so he could positively identify her amazing profile with his mind. Chloe! His heart screamed as he watched her take a seat at a table across the room, with her back completely to him.

Shawn and Bo had joined Brady by now at his post by the strategically placed large green plants. "My god!" Shawn exclaimed as he viewed his mother, Princess Greta, and Chloe Lane preparing to calmly enjoy a meal, as if it hadn't been three years since they had last set foot in Tuscany or on Salem soil. "I can't believe it!" Bo didn't say anything. The angry vein pumping wildly on the side of his forehead gave away his agitation to anyone who was watching him.

Brady felt paralyzed. He couldn't move because of the shock of seeing Chloe again. When Chloe had left Salem so suddenly, and had become such an international sensation, along with Greta and Hope, he had concluded that he would never see her here, in sleepy Salem, again. She would inhabit the fast lane of Europe, floating from one social gathering to the next. At this moment, he realized how false his beliefs were. Now he could taste bitterly how wrong his conclusions were about Chloe. He abruptly returned to his seat, carefully controlling the strong emotions that wanted to overrule him and spill out. Keep it together, Black, he ordered himself as Belle, Marlena, and John looked at him with mute sympathy reflected in their eyes.

"I'm, mmmm, I'm completely shocked!" Marlena explained as the rest of the group joined them silently, with varying degrees of anger or resentment or shock showing on their faces. "I don't know why, but, after being away for so long, I never expected them to come back."

Shawn could feel the angry resentment he carried around for his mother start to bubble up. He put a tight lid on it, remembering that tonight was about him and Belle. It was supposed to be a joyous event spent with the people who meant the most to them. "Hey," Shawn said suddenly, breaking into their silence and causing all heads to turn to him, "so they're back. Big deal. Did we come here to celebrate or what?"

John and Marlena looked worriedly at each other. They again wondered what kind of effect Chloe's arrival would have on Brady. John turned to Shawn and answered, as jovially as he could muster, "You're right! Let's enjoy this meal, and the good company at our table."

Brady watched as the heads started to nod in agreement. He was still emotionally reeling from the shock but no one could tell that from the stoic expression on his face. Then, he forcefully grabbed his conflicting emotions in check and reminded himself of something very important. She didn't have faith in you, or trust enough in your love, he told himself as the conversation began to flow more evenly around him and he made an attempt to appear to be actively involved in it. She didn't believe in you. She didn't love you enough. Black, she deserted you. Forget about her. Only his heart had a hard time listening to his mind when it came to Chloe Lane.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Chloe calmly picked up her glass of champagne, sipping elegantly from the charming glass. She eyed her companions, who were also acting casually, as if there wasn't a buzz about their arrival occurring throughout the entire restaurant. "Well, I certainly feel very welcome now," she said sarcastically to her best friends in the world.

Hope laughed delightedly at Chloe. She found their reception extremely amusing. So far. "I don't know, Chloe. At least we can now say that we have brought the finest restaurant in Salem to a standstill, merely by walking through its front door!"

Greta pointed her glass at Hope as she disagreed with her statement. "We didn't walk through the front door. We sauntered." She wrinkled her nose at Hope as she continued; "You've got to get it right, Hope!"

"All right, all right!" Hope gave into Greta's foolish request with a wave of her hand. She realized that each of them was trying to calm their nerves about reentering the world of Salem. There were so many memories here; beautiful, poignant, and painful. "Sauntering I'll give you, as long as you said we did it elegantly."

Greta nodded to Hope, with an impish smile on her face. "Elegant sauntering. Maybe we should do an article on it, for next month's magazine. I can see it now. How do catch that man you want with elegance in your saunter!" She couldn't help laughing at the ridiculous idea. "That would sell a lot of copies."

"Or run us into the ground!" Chloe met Greta's gaze with wry amusement in her eyes. "If we print many articles like that, we may as well kiss Notorious goodbye!" Chloe pantomimed the action by throwing a saucy air kiss in Greta's direction, which caused both Greta and Hope to burst out with laughter. The silly discussion helped to ease some of the tension that pulled at each of them.

Chloe got that feeling again, that electric pull she hadn't felt in such a long time. Three years, to be exact. She had felt it the moment the elevator doors swished open. Only one person caused such an intense reaction through her. Was he here? she wondered as Greta and Hope continued to casually chat at the table. Chloe tried to resist the urge to glance around her and failed miserably. She looked quickly around, trying to find the source of electricity. Wouldn't I have seen him by now? She asked as she second-guessed her emotions after her brief search.

She knew that she would end up coming into contact with Brady sooner or later, somewhere in Salem. The question was simply a matter of when. Chloe knew that facing Brady Black was an occasion she would have to prepare herself emotionally for. She had to carry off the meeting with the right amount of casual indifference, to somehow convince Brady that he still meant nothing to her. Chloe would essentially have to conceal her heart and her soul from Brady again, just like she had done that awful night on the pier nearly three years ago because she had to stay away from Brady because of her damned deal with her father.

"Well, well, well," a cheerfully snide voice said, interrupting Chloe's meandering thoughts of Brady Black and Hope and Greta's conversation. "I must say that I never thought to see the three of you darken the world of Salem again."

Greta pasted a fake smile on her face as she attempted to meet Nicole Kiriakis gracefully, even though she knew that the effort would be ultimately useless. "Why, Nicole Kiriakis! What a pleasure to see you again!" Greta allowed the tiniest amount of sarcasm to slip in her statement as she attempted to meet Nicole graciously.

A skimpy, see-through dress adorned Nicole's body. Her underwear was plainly visible through the gold silk. "I'm certain it is," Nicole answered as she gazed at the three women haughtily. She was extremely jealous of the success the three of them had in her world of fashion. She would attack any chink in their armor viciously and quickly in order to knock the women down a step or two. And she had access to just the right weapons to do that.

"Nicole," Hope greeted her during a slight lull in the conversation, wondering why on earth Nicole Kiriakis was the first person here to approach them. There was no love lost between any of the occupants of the table and Nicole. "Congratulations on your marriage to Victor."

Nicole smiled slightly at Hope, waving her ten-carat diamond on her left finger in the air. "Thank you, Hope. I do so love married life. Don't you agree?" Then she paused cattily and answered herself in fake sympathy as she placed her left hand over her mouth in pretend dismay. "Oh, that's right! None of you are married!"

The small welcome in Hope's eyes winked out at Nicole's nasty probing. Hope was about to challenge Nicole when she continued her "welcoming" speech. "But I am certain that you enjoy life as single women. Floating from party to party, without a care in the world! Rubbing elbows with the rich and famous! While the world of Salem has continued to move on without you."

Nicole glanced at Greta as she informed her, "I'm certain that you've heard about Dr. Murphy. I mean, what a catch! Sami sure is lucky to have found such a great man. And a doctor, too! Colin was also extremely lucky. He married a woman from such a good, decent family." A small laugh followed Nicole's remarks as she retracted her claws from Greta.

Greta's eyes flashed brightly at Nicole's blatant jab at her past with Colin Murphy and the brief innuendo to her own infamous parentage. She had heard that he married Sami Brady, and felt nothing but pity for the poor girl. Colin was NOT a great catch.

Nicole continued on as she bared her fangs again at Hope. "Hope Brady has finally returned to Salem! We were all wondering if you had forgotten about your son. It's been years since you've seen him." Nicole toyed with her ring some more, flashing it happily in Hope's face.

Bright anger showed itself on Hope's face, even though she knew Nicole was deliberately baiting her. What a bitch! Hope thought as Nicole continued her welcome to the three women. "Fabulous dress you have on," Hope couldn't resist saying. "So, what costume store did you purchase it from? Whores "r" us?"

Nicole glared at Hope's comeback, but she noted the anger in Hope's facial reaction, pleased with her work so far. Now it's time for the final nail for Hope, she thought wickedly. "I suppose you wouldn't know about the wonderful news, would you, Hope? It's not like Shawn talks to you anymore." She threw back her head and laughed slightly. "We all know he despises his slut of a mother!"

Hope stood up quickly, wanting to physically attack the harridan in front of them who was so casually judging and dismissing her. "Nicole!" she began, only to have Nicole interrupt her. Chloe and Greta also stood up, preparing to face this menace together. Greta placed a restraining hand on Hope's arm.

"Let me share the news with you, Hope," Nicole interrupted Hope, relishing her next revelation. "This is usually something a son reports to his mother, but I would love to be the messenger. I just found out it earlier this evening, when I was passing Shawn's table with Victor." She paused dramatically, looking triumphantly at the women in front of her. "Shawn and Belle are engaged! They're going to get married on Christmas Eve. This Christmas Eve!"

Hope couldn't prevent the falling of her features as Nicole's words soaked into her heart. "Oh, Hope," Chloe whispered quietly in sympathy to her friend. She placed her arm around Hope's waist, giving her physical and moral support. Greta squeezed Hope's hand.

"Awwww, so sweet," Nicole sneered as Hope received comfort from the two women next to her. "Hope Brady, being comforted by one princess whose title or wealth can't attract a man worth a damn and another princess whose heart is made of ice! Good company you're keeping, Hope. The daughters of the most hated man in Salem!"

Chloe released her hold on Hope and moved towards Nicole until she was a mere inch from the witch's face. Nicole stood her ground as the "princess whose heart was made of ice" confronted her. "Nicole, Nicole, Nicole," Chloe began, with a sweet expression that was quite fake, "It feels so good to be welcomed back to Salem by you! You have enjoyed pointing out that the three of us are unattached. Maybe you would like to give the three of us some pointers. How, exactly, do you trick a wealthy man into marrying you? By performing well in bed? Or by working in pornos?"

Nicole hissed at Chloe as anger flared brightly in her eyes, "You little bitch! You have no right to say such a thing to me! You…"

Chloe interrupted her this time with an elegant wave of her hand, as she responded nonchalantly, "Don't hand it out if you can't take it. Now get the hell out of our sight!" Chloe turned to head back to her seat, clearly dismissing the intruding woman from their midst.

Nicole saw the way her words seemed to have a complete lack of response from Chloe and she decided to even things up a little before she left their vicinity. "Tell me, Princess Chloe," she whispered, infusing a ton of sarcasm on the word "princess" as she could muster, as she passed Chloe on her way back to her table with Victor, "How does it feel to have the entire Black family completely despise you? They consider you an opportunist, someone who cashed in very quickly on your new identity, with absolutely no turning back to see who you once were or the people who supposedly meant a lot to you. You're a cold, heartless bitch, and I know many people who agree with me!"

"Better a bitch than a whore!" Chloe answered Nicole casually as Nicole passed her. Nicole looked at her with anger in her eyes but continued on her way, for the most part pleased with her "welcome wagon".

"Some things haven't changed," Greta said as she watched Nicole swish her hips seductively as she swaggered away from their table. "I guess that's comforting."

"Some welcome," Chloe pointed out as she looked back at her friends. Chloe shook off the hurt she had felt about Nicole's allegations. Did the Black family truly despise me that much? she wondered before she quickly tamped down on the thought. Concentrate on something else, she told herself. "I really hope that's not how all of them are going to go."

Hope pushed aside the hurt of Shawn's engagement, a hurt that nearly ached because she knew that Shawn would never have told her about it. Hell, she probably wouldn't even be invited to the wedding of her oldest son. "It's not going to be picnic, ladies." She breathed in deeply, hoping that would dispel her raw hurt. It didn't. "But we are strong. And we've come here for a purpose."

Chloe picked up her glass of champagne again. She said to her friends after taking a deep fortifying breath, "I think we may need a reinforcing toast."

Hope and Greta reached down for their own glasses. "All right," Greta decided, "we will each come up with a toast and then drink. I'll go first." She thought for a second, and then said, with a wave of her hand in the air, "Let's toast to friendship, the kind that can and will weather any type of storm."

Hope smiled slightly as she responded to Greta's toast. "Very true. I want to toast to strength, the strength we will need to see DiMera's fall. And also to hope, hope that everything will end the way it's supposed to." She raised her glass as both women waited for Chloe's turn.

Chloe held tightly onto her glass and raised it in the air as she slowly shared the toast that sprang immediately to her mind. "To the death of old dreams, and the birth of new. Let's make our dreams come true!" The three women clinked their glasses, unconcerned that a majority of the restaurant was watching them in interested fascination. They each shared one common dream: bring down the man who had ruined their lives three years earlier.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

About ten minutes after Nicole's welcome departure from their sight, Hope excused herself from her friends. "I want to go talk to Maggie," Hope explained to Greta and Chloe as she rose gracefully from her chair. "I'm really curious about my family. I want to find out more about my family and how they are all doing."

Chloe and Greta waved her off as they continued their own private discussion. Hope made her way around the tables, ignoring the continuing whispers and pointing coming her way. I guess that's what you get when you're "notorious", Hope thought in amusement. It's so much easier to deal with this reaction in Europe. Salem, well, Salem's a different story.

Maggie looked up from the reservation book, a look of pure happiness radiating across her face. "Hope!" Maggie greeted her again, with a huge smile on her face. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't really talk to you earlier! We were getting absolutely swamped, and I had to take care of things."

Hope gave Maggie another welcoming hug, glad to have at least one person in the room who was happy to see her. "I've missed you so much, Maggie!" Hope exclaimed after she stepped out of their embrace, still holding onto Maggie's hands.. "And Gram, and Jenn, and Dad, and Julie… My god, the list goes on and on!"

Maggie looked knowingly into Hope's stunning face, realizing who she was leaving intentionally off of her list. "And Bo and Shawn," Maggie couldn't resist adding to it.

Hope sighed forlornly. Maggie knew her well, as well as Hope's all-consuming love for Bo and her equally strong devotion to her son. "I know, Maggie. I love them so much, but I can't think of anything to make it right with them."

Hope suddenly felt the presence of someone next to her. That person interrupted her conversation with Maggie as he interrupted her strongly with, "That's because there isn't ANY way to make it right."

Hope turned around in complete surprise. She hadn't seen him here in Tuscany this evening. Her heart felt like it was soaring as she gazed at his beloved face, even though anger was painted clearly across it. Images of his childhood floated through Hope's mind. Her heart split in half again as she remembered the vivid trust and love that used to be reflected on his handsome, mature face. It certainly wasn't there now.

Maggie gaped in astonishment at Shawn's horrible intrusion on their conversation, mentally kicking herself for bringing up Bo and Shawn. She glanced at Dave, who was beckoning her from the entrance to the kitchen. An escape! she thought in relief. "Excuse me, please," she said to Shawn and Hope. "Dave needs some assistance right now. Hope, stop by the house sometime, so we can talk."

Hope nodded at Maggie before she rushed hurriedly away. Then, she turned to look at her oldest son, who was about to be married. "Shawn, it's good to see you again," Hope began in an expulsion of breath, not quite certain what she should say to him.

Shawn interrupted her with a snide laugh. "Right, Mom. I wish I could say the same thing to you." He gazed at her with his anger now blaring brightly from his eyes. He had never been able to get over his resentment for his mother. Not like he had really tried. She had lied about J.T.'s biological father and most of her time as Princess Gina, such as that disgusting scene with Stefano DiMera.

Nicole's arrows a while ago had barely punctuated Hope's carefully constructed armor. Shawn's few, cruel sentences were enough to tear her completely apart. Hope didn't know how else to reach her beloved firstborn son. She decided to skip his remark and continued bravely on, "Well, Shawn, you look wonderful! So grown up. And I've heard you're a police officer, too."

Hope gave Shawn more ammunition, without realizing it. "Yeah," Shawn agreed without hesitation, "I work in a profession that idealizes truth, honesty, and integrity." He paused before he delivered his next blow to his mother. "But you wouldn't know anything about that."

Tears began to burn the back of Hope's eyes while she gazed with longing and horrible hurt at Shawn. "You will never see it my way," she murmured, half to herself and in complete regret. She took a deep breath and then congratulated her son weakly. "I, ah, just heard about your engagement to Belle. I know you will be very happy." Hope walked quickly away from Shawn before he could respond, not wanting to see the harsh looks he had directed her way.

Shawn watched his mother walk away from him in a rush. Part of him wanted to run after and comfort her because she had looked so upset and forlorn. But most him still couldn't forgive or forget the truth she had concealed from him and his father, ultimately causing the destruction of their family. As much as he would like to blame Stefano DiMera, he knew that his mother was responsible for the lies that had driven his family apart.

Chloe started to rise from her chair, after she had witnessed the scene between Hope and Shawn. "That didn't look good," she commented worriedly to Greta, who didn't see the scene unfold. Greta raised her eyebrow in question, so Chloe continued, "Hope and Shawn were talking about something. Hope rushed away from him, looking extremely upset."

Greta nodded at Chloe in agreement. "Go find her. I'll man the fort here, in case she comes back." Chloe smiled slightly at her sister and followed Hope's path through the restaurant.

Chloe turned a corner towards the restrooms and opened the restroom door, expecting to see Hope Brady inside. She walked further into the bathroom and checked the bathroom for signs of Hope. No one was there. "That's weird," Chloe muttered lowly to herself. She turned around, wondering where Hope could have gone.

The door slammed violently open as Chloe was preparing to leave the restroom. A tiny mound of petite fury entered the restroom. Sparks flew from her normally cheerful eyes as she gazed at the composed woman in front of her. Belle had seen Chloe heading towards the restroom and had decided to have a private "chat" with her. "Chloe Lane," Belle welcomed her patronizingly, "what a surprise to see you in Salem again."

Chloe quickly composed her feelings before Belle could read them. Belle would never be able to know the depth of Chloe's true feelings for her family, especially her big brother. "Hello, Belle," Chloe responded casually to Belle's furious greeting.

Belle slammed the door shut behind her in order to further express her anger at meeting Chloe again. "I'm surprised you have the guts to show yourself in Salem again, after the way you left it! I warned you that we wouldn't welcome you back." Belle leaned against the door, waiting for Chloe's response.

Chloe raised her eyebrow at Belle's emphatic statements from her position near the bathroom sinks. "I'm not here to be welcomed back by you or anyone in your family, Belle," Chloe said, with the right amount of coolness to completely ignite the rest of Belle's fury.

"Right," Belle said angrily to Chloe. She walked up to her former friend and shook her finger violently in her face. "Well, just to get it straight from the beginning. You WILL stay the HELL away from my brother! He is much too good for the likes of you!"

"Excuse me?" Chloe asked, showing the tiniest bit of anger at Belle over Belle's expressed opinion of her. God, if only Belle knew the sacrifice I made! Chloe thought as she voiced unbelievably, "The likes of me?"

Belle responded, glad that Chloe's anger had forced her to ask for clarification. "Yeah, you know, the total "ice princess". That's what you are, Chloe. I tried to convince myself through most of our high school career that you were really caring and compassionate, just hiding your emotions because you were scared of rejection. Oh, how wrong was I!"

Belle rolled her eyes at Chloe before she continued. "You are the quintessential ice princess," she repeated, in case Chloe had missed it the first time. "You've proven it over and over again over the past three years. First you break Brady's heart, when he didn't give a DAMN about the identity of your father. Then, you immediately jaunt off to Europe and accept the title of "princess." You even enjoy the life of a wealthy socialite, as well as a famous model! You never showed any regret over Brady, Chloe. That's what none of my family can ever forgive. Instead, the tabloids always show you at one party or another, having the time of your life!"

"You have no right to judge me," Chloe broke in lowly, carefully keeping her tumultuous feelings in check as her heart cried out for her to defend herself against Belle's accusations. Of course, from Belle's standpoint, the accusations were one hundred percent true. Only Chloe, Hope, and Greta knew the complete falsity of them.

Belle jerked her head back in astonishment as she looked at the stunningly beautiful women in front of her, who was not showing any reaction to the anger Belle was giving her. "I have every right. Princess," she added scathingly as an afterthought. "You nearly destroyed my brother. I will not let that happen again. Stay away from him!"

Chloe closed her eyes in resignation after she turned her back on Belle. "You don't have to worry about that, Belle. I have no intentions of seeking your brother out." Chloe couldn't bring herself to say the name "Brady" because it hurt so much.

"Good," Belle answered curtly. "See that you do, Chloe, otherwise you will have my whole family to deal with. We don't like you very much." Belle started to walk to the door. She glanced back at Chloe, who still had her back to her. "In fact, after what you did to Brady, I guess you could say that we despise you. Stay away from us. And I do mean all of us." Belle waited a minute to see if Chloe would respond. When she didn't, Belle huffed angrily before opening the door and leaving the restroom.

Chloe wiped the impatient tear that slid down her face. "If only they knew," she whispered as she took a brief second to compose herself. "If only the Blacks knew the full story." Chloe inspected her face anxiously in the mirror. When all traces of sorrow were wiped off, she breathed in deeply and exited the restroom.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

Chloe pushed the abused restroom door open slowly as she exited it after carefully composing her emotions again. She had expected her return to Salem to be hard, but not as hard as this. Belle, one of the most kind, caring, and accepting people she had ever met, now absolutely despised her!

"How horrible," Chloe voiced lowly as she began to round the corner from the restroom, "but expected. Belle thinks I hurt Brady and then gallivanted gaily around Europe, completely forgetting about him. That is so not the truth." She kept her eyes trained on the carpeting, using the view to help her completely regain control of her emotions.

"And then I told her to stay the hell away from us!" Belle announced furiously to Brady, who was listening to his sister describe her encounter with Chloe just minutes before in the restroom.

Brady had seen his sister leave the dining room in a determined huff after Chloe had followed Shawn's mother. He had been visiting his grandfather and Nicole at the time. When Belle hadn't returned to the room quickly enough for him, Brady had decided he had to know what was going on between the two of them and followed his sister. He ran into a still-livid Belle immediately in the small hallway near the restrooms.

He was about to answer Belle when an electric surge went through him, searing his raw emotions. He looked up from Belle curiously and saw Chloe come into view. He sucked his breath in deeply when she unconsciously started their way. She hadn't seen them yet because her sight was trained on the floor. Oh, lord, he thought on an inward sigh of despair as he got an up-close-and-personal look at Chloe without her knowledge. She's so damn beautiful! He gazed at her longingly, unaware that all of the soft, kind, loving feelings he couldn't get over were reflected in his eyes. Then, the knowledge of their past together kicked into his mind, for the moment killing any reflection of kind thoughts about Chloe Lane. And so cold, he added as icy fury began to roll through him and his eyes began to lose the warmth they shown in them when he first glimpsed Chloe.

Belle's back was towards the entrance of the restroom and Chloe, so she didn't see her as she continued heatedly with her tirade against her. She completely faced her brother as she added, shaking her finger wildly at Brady, "She won't bother us. I made sure of it. I told her exactly what we thought of her."

Brady carefully wiped all expression off of his face before Chloe noticed them, not wanting her to find any weakness or signs of caring on his face. She was still gazing down at the carpet. He wondered how she would react when she finally saw him.

"The "princess" will definitely leave us all alone," Belle continued with fury still evident in her voice, unaware of Brady's lack of attention as she continued her livid tirade. She was still riding high on the outrage of Chloe Lane coming back to Salem so inopportunely.

The "princess" in question finally heard Belle speak and looked up quickly in genuine surprise at hearing her name. She had expected Belle to be long into the dining room by now. Chloe's light control on her emotions nearly slipped when she saw who Belle was conversing with. Brady! Her heart sang loudly about five paces away from him as electricity shot through her whole system, shocking her with its vibrancy. He's here! And he looks so handsome, so much more mature, Chloe thought wildly until her eyes made contact with his for the first time in three years. Her eyes widened as she read the total lack of emotion in them. And that lack of emotion was aimed at her.

Brady continued to vaguely listen to Belle as he made eye contact with Chloe. Belle was still completely unaware of Chloe and their first contact as she continued with her tale of her support of Brady. Brady allowed his eyes to travel up and then down Chloe during Belle's one-person discussion.

She's stunning, he thought as he tuned Belle's well-meaning support out. The magazine pictures don't do her any justice. She makes a perfect princess. Elegant, beautiful, aloof, composed, cold. That last thought allowed him to infuse a falsely disinterested look on his face as he gazed at her, showing her that she didn't have anything that he could possibly want anymore. Which was a blatant lie, of course, but Brady would sooner die than admit to anyone, especially Chloe, the amazing hold she still had over him.

Chloe blushed when she correctly interrupted the disinterested look he sent her way. In all the time she had known Brady, he had never looked at her that disrespectfully. She froze in her tracks, not certain how to proceed. Brady and Belle were completely blocking the hallway. Do I greet them? she wondered crazily. Or just breeze by them, without acknowledging their presence?

Belle continued on to Brady, still blissfully unaware that the object of her anger was standing five paces behind her, "We are all here for you, Brady. Especially when you first see her again. I know it's going to be hard, but I'm here to help you through it. So will Mom and Dad."

Brady continued to meet Chloe's gaze as he answered Belle's concerns about him, letting Chloe become fully aware of his feelings for her. Brady sighed inwardly as he spoke the lie to Belle and to Chloe. "You don't have to worry about me, Tink. She doesn't mean a thing to me anymore." He meant those words only for Chloe.

NO! Chloe's heart cried out inwardly at Brady's response to Belle's inquiry. She knew that his response was calculated, to show her exactly what she meant to him now. Nothing, Chloe thought as she wondered when this pain would ever end. I mean nothing to him anymore.

Belle touched Brady's sleeve gently. Her hand cupped his strong bicep as she reiterated to him, "I love you so much, Brady. We all do. I don't want you to be hurt again. Memories of Chloe are painful enough. Now, we're going to have to see her again, in Salem."

Brady covered Belle's hand with his and pulled her into an embrace. Belle's face rested on his chest, aiming away from Chloe. Brady continued to look coolly and with disinterest at Chloe Lane as he said clearly, "You don't have to worry about me, Tink. I can take care of myself. Besides, I got over Chloe years ago. She really is nothing to me now but a memory." Blatant lie, Black, he thought again in disgust at himself, but necessary for the extenuating circumstances.

Chloe carefully kept the pain out of her eyes and off her face as she faced Brady's complete and total rejection. She was once again thankful for her horrendous childhood in the foster homes and the orphanage. She had learned a valuable skill: how to hide her emotions well.

Brady casually broke eye contact with Chloe for the first time since this scene in the hallway. He turned to Belle, clearly dismissing Chloe from his mind and his presence. "This is your night, Tink," he said as he cupped his little sister's face with his hand. "Nothing should spoil it. Let's head back to the table and our family to celebrate your engagement to Shawn."

Belle hugged Brady tightly again, still completely unaware of Chloe's presence a few feet away. "That is the best idea I have heard all night! Let's forget about this and have a wonderful evening!"

Brady smiled warmly at his sister. They started to walk away from Chloe. "Nearly two weeks, Belle. That's not a lot of time." Brady said as he began to inquire about Belle's wedding plans. He never once looked back at Chloe as he continued to discuss Belle's upcoming nuptials with her. Chloe never knew the powerful control Brady exhibited by not taking one last glance at her as he continued into the dining crowd, which is what his heart dictated for him to do.

"Brady has given me the "cut direct"," Chloe realized slowly as she watched the two walk away, listening to Belle excitedly expound on her wedding plans to Shawn. After three years in the European social scene, she knew that people received the cut direct when their presence meant nothing of importance to the person who gave it.

She leaned against the wall, seeking the solid physical strength of it. "Brady's always been good at saying what he means with simply a look," Chloe sighed as she saw the brother and sister disappear completely into the crowd of diners. "He truly wants nothing to do with me now." She smiled ruefully as she remembered her damn deal with DiMera. And that's the way it has to be, she thought in resignation. At least he's over you.

Chloe decided that she wanted more privacy to deal with the aftereffects of this encounter. She turned around and headed back to the restroom, knowing that she would have to summon all of her remaining energy to restore any semblance of composure over her first, initial contact with Brady Black.

She closed the bathroom door weakly after she entered it, grateful that the restroom was totally empty. "Well, at least our first meeting is over," Chloe whispered forlornly to herself as she gazed at her reflection in the mirror. "It's got to get easier from here on out."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

"What an evening!" John said to Marlena as the two of them settled into the backseat of the limousine after they had exited Tuscany. Marlena leaned against him, placing her head on his shoulder. "I had told Brady at work this afternoon that I thought this was going to be an interesting evening, but…" And John whistled lightly to show his disbelief over the evening's events.

John placed his arm securely around Marlena as he continued, "It was shocking enough to find out our little girl is going to be married. And so soon. But, then, to see Chloe Lane again!"

Marlena smiled grimly at John's summation of the evening. She turned to face her husband as she said in sorrow, "I hope Brady will be fine with her return. He has worked so hard to forget Chloe. I hope he will still be able to move on from the pain she caused him."

"That's a fact," John said emphatically. He pulled Marlena closer to him. "She'd better not hurt my son again. I still have nightmares about that night, three years ago. You know, when I met Brady after his meeting with Chloe on the pier?"

Marlena nodded from the comfort of John's embrace. "Anyway," John continued after inhaling a deep, audible breath, "I remember how completely devastated Brady was. I have never seen him that vulnerable or hurt. She destroyed him."

Marlena fingered with John's tie as she pondered her thoughts aloud, "I've always wondered about that, John. Why, exactly, did Chloe end things with Brady so abruptly, and then leave Salem the next day? I always thought there was something, oh, I don't know, fishy about the whole thing. I mean, it was completely out of character for Chloe."

"No," John disagreed vehemently with his wife. Marlena was trained to see both sides of each story. John was not compelled to understand Chloe's point of view because of the devastation she had caused. He understood Brady's pain and heartache too well to be diplomatic in this situation. That was all he needed to know. "At the beginning of their relationship, I questioned Chloe's ability to love Brady the way he needed her to. I remember talking about that to him, the day he showed me his new jeep. I even warned him about getting involved with her. Then, I changed my mind when I saw how happy they were together. I believed she was the one for him, even though they were so young. And six months after my initial view of their relationship, she completely fulfills my prophecy and destroys our son's heart."

Marlena pulled his tie off slowly as she countered his statements smoothly, "I have always believed that there was a reason why Chloe rejected Brady and his support. Maybe it's because I've always liked Chloe and would want her to be able to validate her decision about leaving Brady."

John leaned down and started to nuzzle her neck, in an attempt to distract her. "Mmmmmm," Marlena said endlessly. "Of course, we can always table this discussion for another time." She laughed at the intense look John gave her.

"That's a fact," he said again as he kissed her fully on the lips.

In another vehicle heading home from Tuscany…

Shawn looked at Belle, who was resting her head against the seat of his truck. Man, he loved her so much. She meant everything to him. He couldn't believe how much of in integral part she held in his life. She would understand about tonight, he thought. He decided then to tell her about meeting his mother. "Belle," he began, waiting until she looked his way, "I, uh, I talked to my mother tonight."

Belle sat up in immediate interest. Somehow, with everything that was going on tonight, she had missed that meeting. "Really?" she asked inquisitively. "How did things go?" She placed her hand on Shawn's knee, hoping to offer Shawn some comfort through the physical move. She knew how hard meeting his mother must have been for him.

Shawn turned the wheel of his truck many times, even though the road was straight.

"God, Belle," Shawn paused and then said as he remembered the things he had said to his mother. "I let my anger at her come out. I said some pretty nasty things to her."

Belle interrupted him with a sympathetic, "Oh, Shawn."

Shawn slammed his hand against the steering wheel in agitation. "I can't get over this anger, this sense of betrayal at her deception against me and my dad. But, part of me wanted to hug her, to tell her how happy I was to see her." He sighed in frustration and then continued, "I am so confused right now."

Belle pulled out her psychiatrist suit and put it on. She had learned how to delve into feelings by observing her mother over the years. "Deep down, Shawn, you still love your mother, more than ever," Belle began carefully. "You want to have her be your mother again, but the rest of you isn't ready to overcome your anger at her."

Shawn smiled wanly at his fiancée, who had analyzed him correctly. "You're exactly right, Belle. I'm going to have to see if I can overcome my anger at my mother. If I can, then maybe we can start a relationship again. If I can't, well, at least I know I tried."

Belle gripped his knee again in total accord. "All you've got to do is try, Shawn. Maybe see things from your mother's perspective. I think you may be closer to understanding your mother and her reasons for keeping the truth from all of us."

Shawn pulled Belle's hand up to his face and kissed it reverently as he glanced briefly off of the road and at the love of his life. "How did I get so lucky to have you in my life?" he whispered fervently to Belle. "Let's, ahh, let's go to my apartment."

Belle grinned saucily and in excited expectation at Shawn. She knew what THAT statement meant. "Yeah, Shawn. Let's celebrate our engagement." She peered out of her window, preparing herself for a fabulous send-off for their evening.

Entering Greta's house…

Chloe walked slowly behind Greta and Hope into Greta's house. She wished her two friends a lackluster goodnight and proceeded slowly up the stairs to her room. She wanted to rest her weary heart after her encounters with Belle and Brady tonight. Chloe needed to regroup her emotions in order to be able to be completely ready to face the next day.

"She saw Brady tonight," Greta whispered quietly to Hope as they entered the kitchen to make tea after watching Chloe walk slowly up the stairs. "She only told me a little about it, but I know that it wasn't pleasant."

Hope nodded to Greta as she remarked, "Our return to Salem isn't going to be easy. For any of us." Hope flashbacked to her painful encounter with Shawn. Well, she thought, at least Bo had avoided her the whole night. He hadn't added anymore to her pain.

Greta remembered what should have been her "painful" part of the night, but she had felt nothing but relief. Colin had come in for a late dinner with his wife, Sami Brady. Greta had not felt a thing when she looked at Colin, except to wonder why his hair looked so bad. She felt ecstatic that she had been able to put that painful experience away but understood that her friends were still scarred from their experiences three years ago.

Hope mentally pushed the scene out of her mind with Shawn. "I'll concentrate on that part of my life later," she mused suddenly to herself. "Now, the three of us need to start doing what we came here to do."

"Yes," Greta agreed with excitement as she poured the hot water for the tea into their awaiting mugs. "It is definitely time to go after "Daddy Dearest."

In an apartment across town…

Brady entered his dark bedroom from his living room after he returned home from the "interesting evening" his father had promised him. It was certainly interesting, he decided. Brady refused to turn on his bedroom lights because the darkness suited his mood better than any light could right now. Brady peeled off his clothes, dropping them anywhere they fell onto the floor. "I'll pick them up tomorrow," he muttered aloud as he made his way to his huge bed.

Walking towards his bed in only his boxers, Brady crawled under the covers of his bed. He pulled his black satin sheets over him and attempted to fall asleep. He knew already that sleep would probably elude him tonight. And, if he did fall asleep, he would dream about HER.

"Why can't I get her out of my mind?" Brady asked in frustration as he punched his pillow. Part of him, the part he had attempted to ruthlessly squash, had rejoiced at seeing Chloe again. That part had wanted to walk up to her and literally sweep her off her feet, away from the prying eyes of the Tuscany crowd. To somewhere private, where he could do all sorts of wonderfully wicked things with her, things he never had the chance to do before, except in his dreams. Brady groaned as he felt his body respond to his seductive thoughts about Chloe. "How can I still desire her? After everything that has happened between us?" he asked his ceiling, but he didn't receive an answer.

Brady tried to get comfortable in his bed, knowing with absolute certainty that his efforts would be futile. He knew he was in for a long night of erotic dreams about the love of his life. Dreams that would continue to remain unfulfilled.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

A new day finally dawned in Salem. Chloe and Greta strolled casually over the sidewalks of Salem Place, reacquainting themselves with the stores Salem had to offer. "Definitely not Milan or Paris," Greta said speculatively to her dear sister as they continued down, "but exciting none the less."

Chloe turned her million-dollar smile on Greta. "I know what you mean. It's really nice to be back here, kind of like we've taken a step back in time." She eyed the stores in front of them as they stopped in front of Ballistix. "I always had so much fun shopping here, mainly because of the people I was with."

Greta grinned and gave a husky chuckle in remembrance of some of her shopping dates at Salem Place. "I had some pretty unforgettable times, too. I remember when Jack Devereux convinced me he was gay! We had this absolutely hilarious talk over by the Java Café. Damn, I cannot believe I fell for that story!"

"You forgave him for the lie, though, didn't you?" Chloe asked inquisitively as they started on down the sidewalk.

"Once I got over my first infuriating response, I did." Greta moved her hands restlessly in the air as she continued to explain, "I mean, he did it because he knew I was developing feelings for him. He didn't want to hurt me because the only woman he would ever truly love was Jennifer." She nodded her head a few times at Chloe. "I'm glad he did it, now. We were able to become very good friends, with no romantic feelings whatsoever. And I have terrific memories of him!" She laughed again. "And, if I ever become penniless, I could always blackmail him! He wouldn't want too many people to know that about him."

Chloe joined her sister in genuine laughter. "I find all of your "Jack" stories hilarious! Hope said that he and Jennifer remarried. No hard feelings?"

Greta looked at Chloe like she was crazy. "Chloe, you know I have no romantic feelings for Jack or Colin or Austin or Eric." She grinned ruefully at herself. "Being back here just brings up many memories. I am pleased that I can laugh hysterically at so many of them."

Chloe smiled blithely as they neared the Java Café. Then, an unexpected sight met her eyes. "Would you look at that!" she murmured mysteriously. Greta's interest peeked and she looked at Chloe expectantly. "Over there, coming out of that bookstore," Chloe clarified quickly.

"It's about time," Greta said when the person came into visible sight. "I was surprised he didn't end up at Tuscany last night. Almost all of the major players were there. It felt incomplete without him."

"What do you say?" Chloe asked Greta. "Shall we go say "hello"?"

Greta linked arms with Chloe as she answered her in the affirmative, "Let's go."

Brady rounded the opposite corner towards the Java Café with Belle. They were going to meet their father for coffee this cheerful morning. "Oh, Brady!" Belle said enthusiastically as they neared their destination. "I, like, cannot believe that I am going to get married so soon! In less than two weeks, I am going to Mrs. Shawn Brady! How cool is that?"

Brady grinned down at his sister in response. God, he loved his perky sister, even if her perkiness did annoy him at times. "I remember, a few years ago, that I predicted you and Shawn would not last. That you would find someone else."

Belle stopped in mute astonishment as she glared daggers at her brother. "Brady Black!" she scolded him. "What would make you think such a thing? You know I have always adored Shawn!" She placed her hands on her hips as she waited patiently for his response.

"Come on, Belle," Brady said, enjoying his teasing. "Remember? That night we shared marshmallows with Dad and Marlena? Things didn't look so promising for you and Shawn that night."

Belle humphed at him as she reluctantly agreed with him. "You're right, Brady. But we have come such a looong way since that night. Shawn and I are totally secure in our love for each other." She brought her left hand up and admired the small but exquisite diamond ring on it, for the millionth time since he had placed it on her finger.

Brady acted like his agreement was forced when he was extremely happy for his sister. "I guess you proved me wrong, Belle. I couldn't be happier that you did."

Belle's face lit up with enjoyment as she tore her eyes away from the token of Shawn's love for her. "Imagine that! Brady Black admitting he was wrong!"

"Wrong about what?" John interrupted his daughter as he met them near the Java Café. "I always like to hear when my perfect son is wrong. He so very rarely is!" John laughed heartily as he punched Brady in the shoulder.

"Oh, Dad!" Brady protested good-naturedly. He always enjoyed bantering with his father and sister. "I was just admitting to Belle about my "dire" prediction for her and Shawn, AND how glad I am that I was completely and totally wrong about it. They're a good fit."

"No," Belle disagreed vehemently. "Shawn and I are a GREAT fit! We belong together." She then turned and greeted her father with a hug. "It's good to see you, Dad. Let's go get something hot to drink. It's freezing out here!"

The Blacks turned in unison and then stopped in amazement as their eyes fell on the sight directly across from them. "Oh, my god," John breathed out lightly as he watched the interaction. "That is very interesting."

"I'll say," Belle agreed. "I wonder what they're talking about. I wish we could hear what's going on. Greta looks angry. Chloe, well, I can't tell what she's feeling anymore."

Brady watched on stoically as the three Blacks continued to view the scene in front of them.

"Chloe, Greta!" Stefano greeted them in surprise. He held his arms out in welcome that was not returned by either of his daughters. "What a surprise! I had no idea you were returning to Salem!" Which was the truth. Stefano was going to have to get on his henchmen who were supposed to be reporting his daughters' every move to him. He was not jubilant about this turn of events. "I am so pleased to see you!"

"Right," Greta agreed, letting her anger show at the man who had fathered her. "I can guarantee that the sentiment is not returned, by either one of us." Chloe stood by, her face remaining impassive.

"Well," Stefano interceded his daughter's unfortunate belief. "I am not too surprised. I mean, I have been in Salem for three years and not once have either of you attempted to contact me!"

"Oh, please," Greta broke in, with an unbelievable shake of her head. "Contacting you, the person responsible for our self-imposed exile from Salem, was exactly what we wanted to do." She rolled her eyes in exaggerated sarcasm.

Stefano smiled grimly at Greta. He realized that these two daughters were much stronger than he had given them credit for. "You really should be grateful to me. After all, if it wasn't for me, the three of you wouldn't have had the motivation necessary to launch such a successful magazine."

Chloe reigned in her temper that was threatening to attack this man viciously. Remember our plan, she thought silently. Oh, to hell with it! "Excuse me," she interrupted her father, with anger vibrating from her tone, "but gratitude is the last thing we feel towards you."

"Chloe, Chloe, Chloe," Stefano countered her statement smoothly. "I only want what's best for my daughters. What will make you truly happy. Not living in Salem has allowed you two to become extremely successful and amazingly well respected. I am so impressed that the two of you have managed to fill your mother's amazing shoes so extremely well."

Chloe was about to retort when Greta stopped her by placing a restraining hand on her arm. Chloe realized the importance of regaining control of her temper, so she attempted to and nearly succeeded. "Well, Stefano," she said deliberately referring to him by his first name, "as you said, it has been a pleasure to see you again. Greta?"

"Wait!" Stefano commanded them before they could turn away from him. "Why, exactly, have you returned to Salem?"

Greta and Chloe eyed each other; then, Greta fielded the question. "We are considering expanding our magazine. Our home production is in France. We would like to have our magazine produced here, in the United States."

"Ah, very good," Stefano said as he nodded approval. "Wise choice." He waited until the two women had taken a step before he interrupted their retreat again. "Chloe, dear?"

Chloe turned around, her face not showing her emotions to this man. "Yes?" she questioned him impatiently.

Stefano walked to his daughter, so that only she and Greta would hear his words. "Remember our agreement," he reminded her ominously. "You know the consequences of trying to reconcile with Brady Black." He then grinned evilly and took his leave.

"I guess he hasn't forgotten," Chloe said sarcastically after a few minutes of silence. "Not like I really expected him to." They watched with relief as Stefano DiMera disappeared from view. "He was really surprised to see us here, Greta. That's interesting."

Greta nodded in complete accord with Chloe. "Yes, it is. And it's very good. I don't think he has a clue about what we have in store for him."

The Blacks witnessed the entire encounter. The last thing they saw was Greta and Chloe head back in the direction they had already come, missing a potential meeting between the two groups.

Belle said with relief when she realized that Chloe was not coming their way, "That was a close call."

John shook his head. "I wonder what they were discussing with DiMera." He turned to look fully at his children. "You know, it's really shocked me that DiMera hasn't done anything to our family recently. He has lived in Salem for the past three years, and has not made a move against my family or me. It's, well, it's unfathomable."

"He's just scared, Dad," Brady insisted. "He knows that you are the stronger man, and that you would be able to beat him." Brady continued to watch the backs of Chloe and Greta as they strolled farther and farther away from them. "You know," he said suddenly to his companions, "I really don't feel like going to the café right now. I think I'm going to head to the office, get some work done."

John and Belle watched in concern as Brady walked away from them. "He's trying to fool everyone," Belle said to her father, "but we know the truth. He's never gotten completely over Chloe." John sighed deeply in agreement.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

"I'll meet you at .dot com in an hour," Chloe said as she waved goodbye to her sister as Greta walked into a clothing store. Chloe's urge to shop had dissipated after meeting their father. She had begged off going into the store with Greta, who wanted to use the therapy of shopping to forget about their surprising meeting with their father. Instead, Chloe wanted to walk in the brisk winter air, contemplating their future moves in Salem.

Chloe started at a brisk pace back down the sidewalk, following a less populated route in Salem Place. She felt the need to avoid the bustling crowds of Christmas shoppers, as well as the people who cheerfully recognized her and Greta with pointing fingers or loud chants.

She had only gone a few steps down the solitary path when she needed to turn a corner. Her thoughts were not on her whereabouts, so she completely missed the shadow of the person who rounded the corner at the exact same time she did. Chloe ended up sprawling ungracefully on the ground after she bounced off of a hard, masculine chest. Her eyes opened wide in surprise when she heard a familiar husky chuckle that sent trembles vibrating through her body.

"I'm sorry," the deep voice began as a masculine hand reached down to help the damsel in distress up. He hadn't realized yet who he was assisting because the damsel's face was making eye contact with his feet. "Are you all right?"

Chloe looked at Brady's hand, debating momentarily about whether or not to make contact with it. Yes, her heart decided quickly, finally overruling her head. It could be the last time she ever touched Brady Black again. She prepared herself to lock this upcoming touch away in her mental vault of cherished memories about Brady. Chloe put her hand in his, feeling the familiar jolt rush through her. She heard Brady gasp in response as she tilted her head up to meet his astonished gaze.

The welcome and concern slid off of Brady's face as he fully realized whose hand he held. Heaven help him, but he didn't want to ever relinquish her hand. Damn, he swore in his mind. He couldn't believe the hold their connection still held over him. He unceremoniously helped her up as he continued to gaze at her impassively.

"Brady," Chloe said as she stood uncertainly in front of him. She suddenly remembered the time in .dotcom, when Brady had helped her up after she had tripped over his cane before he had regained complete use of his legs again. She had taken her hand out of his quickly, afraid of the feelings the physical contact with him had aroused in her. Her eyes glanced down now at their still joined hands.

Brady's gaze followed hers. When he realized what she was looking at with such fascination, he abruptly dropped her hand. His hand still tingled from the connection, so he placed it quickly into one of the pockets of his jeans. "So, princess," he began, placing a lot of sarcasm on her newfound title, "what brings you back to the unfashionable world of Salem?"

Wow, Chloe thought in amazement, he's talking to me! After last night, she wouldn't have put it past him to walk completely away from her after this meeting, without sharing a word with her. And she was so pathetically grateful to hear his voice directed at her, even if it was tinged with sarcasm and his eyes were drilling holes through her. She decided to use the cover story Greta and Hope had concocted for their unexpected arrival in Salem. "We're, ah, thinking of expanding our company. You know, Salem seemed like a good place to start." Very smooth, Lane, she thought in disgust at herself. Pull yourself together.

Brady wanted desperately to turn around and leave her, but his feet would not obey the mental order. He was hearing her voice again, up close and personal. Nothing could persuade him to leave, even if talking to her was equal to pouring salt over a festering wound. "Yeah, the three of you became successful quickly. I guess you couldn't wait to shake the dirt of Salem off your shoes."

Chloe remembered the warning Stefano had just given her, so she resisted the strong urge to defend herself to Brady. "It was beneficial that we moved away from Salem," she answered him with a forced aloofness.

"Ah, yes, beneficial," Brady responded as he let some of his rage at Chloe spill out. "I suppose it was also "beneficial" for you to leave everything you knew behind? Friends and family? Oh, and we mustn't forget the messy detail of a boyfriend, the man you supposedly loved?"

Chloe was not expecting that attack, so she couldn't prevent the response that slipped out of her. "Brady, you will never understand what that knowledge did to me! I had to leave Salem. I had to put my life back together, far away from all the memories that would have plagued me here."

Brady's anger at Chloe only allowed him to hear the distrust she had put in their relationship, not the heartfelt sadness reflected in her voice and her words. "I would have been a plague to you," he analyzed from her words with a nod of his head. "Well, you have done a fabulous job of "fixing" your life. Endless parties, extreme wealth, magazine shoots, an amazing social life that most women would envy. But, I've got to ask you one question, Chloe."

Chloe knew she didn't want to hear the question, but she prompted Brady anyway when he remained silent. "What, Brady?" she asked, trying valiantly to remain impartial to Brady and his sarcastic view of her life.

"How does it feel, princess," he stressed her title strongly again, "to be made of ice, completely unaware of the people around you?"

Direct hit, Chloe thought as she absorbed Brady's meaning, straight through the heart. "I feel, Brady, I feel a lot," she said in contradiction to Brady's accusation. The only problem was she couldn't let anyone know the depths of her true feelings. She also recognized the fact that Brady was using the hurt and anger she had caused him as he went on the verbal attack.

Brady laughed wryly at her answer to his question. "No, I don't think so," he disagreed with her. "You are an ice princess. I know exactly how cold and unfeeling you can be, much to my regret. Besides, I've seen it quoted too many times in the tabloids not to believe it."

Chloe turned her back on Brady, trying to think of a reply to his beliefs that would change his opinion. Then, she realized with blinding clarity, she couldn't fix it. She needed to continue this charade with Brady, making him believe that she felt nothing for him, in order to protect his family from her father. "Brady," she began hesitatingly, forcing her voice to grow stronger with each word, "that is all in the past. Let it go."

Chloe's apparently impartial words ignited the blaze of Brady's temper more. "Excuse me?" he questioned her. "You want to just "let it go"?" He placed his arms on her shoulders and jerked her around. Even in his anger, he moved her gently. Brady did not have it in him to be rough with her. Immediately after he could see her face, he dropped his hands from her, almost as if touching her burned him. "I never knew you, Chloe, I realize that now."

Chloe watched unmoving as Brady ran his hands through his blond hair. Oh, she thought, he looks so incredibly handsome, even if he is absolutely furious with me! In a perfect world…

Brady interrupted her thoughts of her perfect dream world. "That's it. You never let me see the whole Chloe, the one who could turn her back on everything that she once claimed meant so much to her. Even her music. So, Chloe, why didn't you ever seek a career in music?"

Because I wouldn't accept the name DiMera, she answered silently. "I lost my desire to sing," she said somewhat truthfully to Brady. The last time she had sung was with Brady at the gazebo, the night he had given her his mother's necklace and she had gifted him with her heart. The night her world crumbled. She never sang after leaving Salem. Opera was another dream that had been destroyed by her father. Of course, the most painful dream her father ended was standing right in front of her.

Brady nodded as he interpreted Chloe's world. "That would make sense. I always told you that you needed feelings and emotions to sing. Apparently, you don't have any." Brady looked at the woman who continually invaded his dreams, night after night, the woman who still held his heart, no matter how hard he convinced himself that he had truly banished every memory and feeling of her.

Chloe's face hid her reaction to Brady's words. Let him think that, she thought. Then, he won't try to contact me anymore. I can't let my father think we are trying to get back together. "Goodbye, Brady," Chloe said in farewell to him as she effectively ended their conversation by turning around and walking slowly away from him. If only you knew how much feelings and emotions I really do have, she thought as she forced her feet to continue farther away from the love of her life.

Brady tore his gaze from Chloe's back, frustrated with his part of the conversation. "Real cool, Black," he said sarcastically as he placed both hands in his pockets. "Way to hide your feelings from her. Now she knows that you still think of her. Damn, I am such an ass!" He waited until Chloe was completely out of sight before he continued on down the sidewalk, mentally castigating himself for his inability to hide his frustrated anger at her.

 **Author's Note:**

(This is a note I posted on the message boards after a few reviewers reminded me that Colin and Sami were actually cousins...oops! A little flaw in the fic that I attempted to fix with the note below...

 _I would like to thank everyone who has pointed out to me that Sami and Colin are related on the show! In my fic, Colin is now an extremely distant relative of the Brady's. I wanted to pair Colin with one of Salem's resident witches, and Sami came to mind quickly. After the way Colin treated Greta, he deserved someone vicious and malicious! Sami Brady fit the bill! I hope that clears up all confusion!)_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

Shawn walked over to Belle, who was sitting at a table in .dotcom. He placed their drinks on the table as he sat down. "Anyway," Belle continued after Shawn took his place across from her, "there was Chloe and Princess Greta, across from us!"

"What happened next?" Shawn asked as he took a sip from his drink. He had met Belle outside the door, when she had started to fill him in on her morning.

"Well, Dad, Brady, and I were totally shocked to see who they were talking to!" Belle paused dramatically before continuing. "They were standing with Stefano DiMera!"

"You're kidding me," Shawn denied in disbelief. "I can't believe they would even acknowledge him, after the way he revealed his secret to them."

"It didn't look like a happy conversation," Belle admitted reluctantly. She rather liked shocking Shawn, but couldn't in good conscience exaggerate the meeting she had witnessed earlier. "Greta looked angry, as if she didn't want to be there. Chloe, well, she looked impassive, as if she could care less that the most infamous man in Salem was talking with her."

"Don't forget," Shawn pointed out to Belle, "that "infamous" man is their father. Of course, I don't think Princess Greta or Chloe have ever attempted to contact Stefano DiMera. It seems to me that they wanted to get as far away from that man as they could."

Belle nodded in slight agreement. "I can give Chloe that reason for leaving Salem, but I will never understand why she deserted my brother. I told her that last night, when I cornered her in the bathroom."

Shawn's eyes opened wide in surprise. He had been so preoccupied about his confrontation with his mother that he hadn't noticed Belle's agitation over her meeting with Chloe. "Did you really? What happened, Belle?"

"Oh," Belle said casually after she had sipped from her drink, "I simply told her to stay away from Brady. He doesn't need her messing with him again. She has hurt him enough."

"Brady seems to have gotten over her pretty well," Shawn responded in slight confusion to Belle's vehemence about Chloe. "And she didn't seek Brady out last night. She never even looked our way when we left the restaurant, even though Princess Greta had a full view of our departure. I'm certain she told Chloe who was leaving Tuscany."

Belle shrugged at Shawn's portrayal of Chloe. She decided not to correct Shawn's illusions about Brady "getting over" Chloe. Brady had managed to convince most of Salem, with the exception of his sister and his father. Belle wanted to preserve Brady's façade. "I hope you're right, Shawn. I wanted Princess Chloe," she said sarcastically, "to know exactly who she was dealing with. I won't let her near Brady while she is in Salem."

Belle watched Shawn's eyes as they narrowed at something behind her. She frowned at him, and then followed his eyes. Outside .dotcom she could see Hope Brady, holding onto J.T.'s hand. Then, Princess Greta joined them, carrying a large shopping bag.

"It's J.T." Shawn couldn't believe that he was seeing his little brother again, even from a distance. "He looks so big!"

"Do you want to go see him?" Belle asked, seeing this meeting as a possible bridge between Shawn and his mother. Maybe they could start bonding over J.T. "After all, he is my brother, too."

Shawn placed his hand firmly on Belle's forearm. "Not quite yet. I'm not ready to face my mom now. But, I do want to watch what's going on."

Belle turned in her seat, surprised to see her father happen onto the scene. "So do I," she said.

John's eyes were immediately drawn to his youngest son when he viewed the small group near .dotcom. His heart leaped when he recognized J.T., the child he did not have much of a relationship with. He walked up to Greta and Hope, uncaring of the reception he would receive. "Hey, buddy!" he said to J.T., while offering a slight grin of welcome to the women. "Hope, Greta." The two women smiled openly back at him.

J.T. turned from his fascination with his toy truck and looked up at the man who was bending down to greet him. He recognized him from photos that his mom had shown him. He knew exactly who he was. "Daddy!" he said happily, and hugged his father for the first time in many years.

Hope couldn't prevent the smile from crossing her face as she watched John's reaction to J.T.'s hug. She knew that J.T. was a product of "Princess Gina" and "Father John's" love, not of Hope Brady and John Black. But, John was his father, and Hope had hated the fact that living in separate countries had denied John access to his son.

John looked up at Hope, surprised delight on his face. "He knows," John said in surprise as he held onto his son tighter.

"Of course he does, John!" Hope exclaimed as she watched John wipe moisture from the corner of one eye. "I'm really glad that you happened by us. We really need to talk."

John smiled down into his son's cherubic face and held tightly to his hand. "Yes, we do, Hope. You can start."

Greta offered Hope encouragement in the form of a smile. "Well," Hope began, "I think it is really important for you and J.T. to begin a more complete relationship. Communicating through e-mail, letters, and phone calls is not enough. " She pointed to Greta as she continued, "That is the main reason why we have chosen Salem for our expansion of our magazine. This way, you will be able to see J.T. so much more."

John couldn't prevent the mile-wide grin from crossing his face. He believed in the permanence of family, and it had nearly killed his heart to not be an integral part of J.T.'s life while Hope lived in Europe. He was thankful for the cards, e-mails, and phone calls he had received from J.T., but that was not the same thing as being physically with him. "Oh, yes! That's wonderful, Hope." John caught the first thought that ran through his mind and expressed it to Hope. "Can I have J.T. tomorrow? Say, in the afternoon?"

When Hope nodded enthusiastically, smiling warmly at him, John turned his face down to J.T. and said cheerfully, "We could play together, at the park. Then get some hot chocolate! Sound good?"

J.T. nodded enthusiastically at his father. Then, J.T. looked behind John and a huge smile crossed his face. He broke away from the small group and shouted, "Aunt Choey!" He ran quickly to greet one of his favorite aunts.

Chloe bent down to await J.T.'s loving hug. She held onto him tightly after he had shot himself like a rocket into his arms, glad to be the recipient of his unconditional love. "Hey, handsome," she greeted him as she tussled his hair. Together, the two of them joined their waiting audience.

The smile that had graced John's face a few seconds earlier disappeared as the new arrival came closer to him. He eyed Chloe with extreme displeasure, but he realized now was not the time to display it. He didn't want to scare J.T. with his feelings for the woman next to him. "Chloe," he greeted her coolly. Chloe felt the ice in his replay and managed to nod simply in response to John's lukewarm greeting.

Hope felt the chill, too, and covered it up, for J.T.'s sake. "I'll, ah, meet you at the park tomorrow, John. After lunch. Then, you and J.T. can play to your heart's content."

The smile reappeared on John's face as he looked back at his son, who was gripping Chloe's hand in pure bliss. She has the heart of another one of my sons, John thought in slight dismay. Then, he shook off the depressing thought and said eagerly to Hope, "That sounds great! How about it, champ?" He directed his response to J.T. "We get to play tomorrow!"

J.T. nodded happily, and then buried his head in Chloe's stomach. John reached down and patted his son on the head in farewell. "Sounds like a plan," he said to Hope. "I'll see you then. Hope, Greta, always a pleasure to see you." He purposefully avoided using Chloe's name. Instead, John merely nodded very briefly at Chloe before he continued on down the sidewalk.

Greta chewed on her bottom lip at the nearly rude treatment John had given Chloe. "Ohhhh," Greta exclaimed lowly, so J.T. wouldn't hear. She looked at Chloe, to see how she was taking John's chilly reception. Chloe simply shrugged her shoulders in resignation.

Chloe shrugged her shoulders at both Greta's and Hope's looks of concern. "Don't worry about it," she said to them, not clarifying it because of J.T.'s presence. "Let's go home, get some lunch. I'm starving!" Chloe leaned down and tickled J.T.'s stomach, who laughed uproariously at his aunt. Chloe knew that none of the Blacks were happy about her return to Salem. She would have to adjust herself to their cold responses to her. It was hard, though, especially when she remembered the warmth and support they used to give to her freely.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

"Higher, Daddy, higher!" J.T. ordered his father as John pushed him with care on one of the swings Salem Park had to offer. He giggled in enjoyment as his father complied slightly with his request.

"I see he's already got you wrapped around his finger," Brady quipped jokingly as he walked up behind his father. He smiled as J.T. squealed with enjoyment at playing with his father. "And he's got Belle's temperment."

John continued to push his youngest son as he glanced at his oldest one. "That's a fact!" He said, laughing at his strong agreement to Brady's statements. He announced to J.T., "Your big brother's here, and he's waiting for hot chocolate. Let's go warm ourselves up!" He gradually stopped J.T. from swinging.

J.T. smiled innocently at Brady as his swing came to a complete stop. "Hi, big brofer!" he said, in open greeting, calmly accepting and welcoming a new brother into his small sphere.

Brady crouched down and helped J.T. off of the swing. He couldn't resist the urge to continue to hold him physically, so he swung his little brother up onto his shoulders. "Hey, little brother!" Brady greeted him back after he was securely settled from his perch. "How do you like the view?"

J.T. continued to smile at his father as he ordered Brady, "I want hot choclate! Let's go!"

"Onward, James!" John laughed uproariously at his own joke, as the three Black men left Salem Park for the short walk to the Java Café.

John carried the three hot chocolates to the table, smiling as Brady and J.T. talked back and forth. He's great with children, John thought proudly of Brady as Brady had been able to completely put J.T. at ease. He'll make a terrific father someday. "Here's our warm sustenance!" John announced as he handed out the drinks to his sons.

Brady carefully opened J.T.'s, who perched on securely on his lap, even testing it himself to make certain it wasn't too hot. They all drank from their hot chocolates, enjoying the warmth it created through the slightly chilly air.

"Your mom's going to pick you up here, J.T.," John said as he put down his drink on the table in front of them. He was sorry to see his time with J.T. come to an end. J.T. was a delightful child.

"Mama, Mama, Mama," J.T. chanted happily, waving both hands in the air, causing both men to grin at his antics. "I love my mama! And my daddy!"

John's heart nearly burst at that announcement. Little children were so resilient, he thought, even willing to forgive a few years of not seeing one another, even if seeing each other had been impossible. "J.T.," he began, only to have J.T. interrupt him with childlike excitement.

A huge smile bloomed across the little boy's face. He laid his drink on the table quickly and got himself down from Brady's lap, all in the span of two seconds. "Aunt Choey!" he said happily, launching himself at her again like a shot.

Just like the day before outside of .dotcom, Chloe fell to her knees in welcome, greeting J.T. with a huge hug. She was wearing a shapeless gray turtleneck dress, a dress that should have hung demurely on any other woman. On Chloe, it draped seductively over her, highlighting every curve perfectly. A red sweater competed her outfit. "J.T.!" Chloe responded in the same vein to his always-enthusiastic greeting.

J.T. looked back to his father and brother at the table and continued with his announcements, "I love Choey!" He leaned in and gave Chloe a quick kiss on her cheek. He looked at her face deeply, waiting for Chloe to give him her undivided attention. When she complied quickly, J.T. said to her, "And I love my big brofer Brady!"

Chloe responded with a warm smile for J.T., ignoring the two occupants of the table for the moment. My third day in Salem, she thought, and my third meeting with Brady. Of all the horrible luck in the world! Dammit, my heart needs a break from this turmoil!

Chloe didn't allow any of her feelings to be revealed on her face. She held onto J.T.'s hand as she took the few steps that would bring her to the table where Brady and John eyed her warily. "Hope went to visit her grandmother," she began in explanation of her reason for being there to pick up Hope's son. "She asked me to pick J.T. up."

John kept one eye on Chloe, and watched Brady's reaction to her. Brady concealed all emotions, even managed a travesty of a welcoming grin at Chloe, for J.T.'s sake. John decided to follow Brady's example. "Chloe," he said in welcome to her.

Chloe realized that both John and Brady were trying not to make J.T. aware of the tension between their relationship, so she decided to make the scene as short as possible. Besides, it hurt to look at Brady's beloved face. "We're going to decorate Hope's grandmother's Christmas tree," she said inanely, reaching for the first reasonable thing she could contribute to this uncomfortable meeting.

"Sounds like fun," John answered as he turned his undivided attention to J.T. "Wow, you get to decorate a tree!"

J.T. wrapped his arms around Chloe's legs. He loved his aunt "Choey". "Choey's going to help me put the star on the top of the tree. She always lifts me up. Then we sing songs." He let go of his grip on Chloe's legs and walked up to Brady. Brady responded by meeting J.T.'s gaze. "Choey is the best!" he confided loudly to his "brofer". "She sings better than angels. My mama says so."

Chloe felt a blush float over her, as she remembered how Brady had inquired about her singing. She began to feel more and more uncomfortable, and was extremely grateful when Brady only responded to J.T.'s secret with a grin. J.T. then walked back to Chloe and took her hand. He swung their entwined hands in the air as he smiled back at the men of his family. Chloe met John's gaze and said, "Hope wanted me to tell you to stop by, anytime. She wants you to see J.T. whenever you want."

"Thanks, Chloe," John answered curtly. Brady only stared at her impassively.

"All right, then," Chloe said to no one in particular. "J.T., I think we get to go decorate a tree!" He clapped his hands and the two of them walked together away from the table.

Chloe abruptly stopped a short distance away when she heard a masculine voice tinged with an English accent shout across the Java Café, "Chloe Lane! Stop right there!" She couldn't prevent the smile that crossed her face as she found the source of the exuberant call. A tall, dark, and handsome man ran lightly towards her and J.T.

"Why, Ethan Sinclair!" Chloe said warmly to the new arrival as he neared her. She didn't realize that Brady and John had a perfect view of the meeting. "I didn't know you were in Salem!" Which was a lie, since he was the ISA agent who was helping them in their crusade to take down DiMera. His arrival meant that it was time to move on the final stages of their plans.

Brady's eyes blazed brightly when he saw Chloe embrace the strange man warmly. He wanted to take his eyes off of the couple greeting each other in front of him, but they wouldn't obey his command.

John watched the unfolding scene, and then turned to gauge his son's reaction. He noted the livid fury and blatant jealousy that crossed Brady's face at the sight of Chloe with this man, Ethan Sinclair. Brady, he thought sympathetically, you really haven't gotten over her. Then, he watched as Brady hid his emotions, allowing his impassive mask to settle over his face. You can't hide it forever, John thought sadly. He turned to continue watching the scene, but all he saw was the backs of Chloe, J.T., and Ethan Sinclair as they headed away from their table.

Brady stood up without a word to his father and carried his and J.T.'s drink containers to the garbage can. He proceeded to throw them in the can harshly, and then stalked off in the opposite direction.

At Alice Horton's House…

Chloe entered through the front door, with an excited J.T. "Look at the tree!" he shouted and ran into the living room, where he was greeted by Alice Horton with a warm smile and an even warmer hug.

Chloe saw Hope and Greta exit the kitchen, carrying a cookie tray and a silver tea service. They both smiled at the new arrival, expecting to have a cozy afternoon together. Chloe hated to break their expectation up. "Hey, girls," she said, allowing her eyes to show her determination. "I'll meet you in the kitchen."

Hope and Greta looked at each other, wondering about the secrecy. Then, they delivered the cookies and tea to the living room and excused themselves quickly.

"All right," Hope began the second the door closed behind them. "You look worried and determined. What's going on?"

"Yeah," Greta agreed with Hope, chewing nervously on her bottom lip. "You seem, oh, I don't know, agitated or something. Did John upset you?"

Chloe shook her head slightly in response. "Oh, no. I'm prepared now for meeting with any Black. But, guess who I saw at the Java Café, fifteen minutes ago?"

Greta and Hope looked at each other in puzzlement, no clear answer coming to either of them. There were so many possibilities. Hope shrugged her shoulders as Greta turned to Chloe once again. "We cry uncle! Who did you meet today?"

Chloe took a deep breath, knowing that the final stages of their plan were about to commenced. Greta and Hope would realize it the second she told them about the new person in town. "Ethan Sinclair."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

The car pulled up the driveway slowly, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to its presence. The driver gripped the steering wheel tightly, willing her nerves to settle quickly. Chloe tucked her hair behind her ear. Then, she picked up the silver necklace that hung from her neck. "Testing, testing," Chloe whispered quietly into it.

Her cell phone rang a second later. Chloe answered before the phone had completed its first chirp. "Does it work?" she questioned anxiously.

Ethan's voice came across the connection, loud and clear. "Of course the device works, Chloe, my dear. It comes through with amazing clarity."

Chloe turned her necklace over, inspecting the tiny electronic device attached securely to it. "That is so amazing," she said into the cell phone. "I can't believe that something so tiny can be that powerful."

Ethan agreed as he answered her, "I know. It is hard to believe how well the bug works. I'm glad I was able to "borrow" it from ISA headquarters. They still don't know about our mission here. If they did, I guarantee you Stefano would be ready for us. As it is, he will be completely shocked by what the three of you have in store for him."

Chloe heard some interesting noises on the line as the phone was taking abruptly out of his hand. Hope's voice came clearly through the connection. "Here's your pep talk, Chloe!" she said with forced gaiety. "All you have to do is go in there, distract DiMera for a few seconds, and plant the bug without him knowing it. Piece of cake."

Chloe laughed sarcastically at her good friend's optimistic encouragement. "Yeah. Definitely a piece of cake. Remember how well my last meeting with Stefano DiMera went?"

"You don't have to do this," Hope responded, losing her forced cheerfulness. "Greta or I can easily complete this part of plan."

"We could!" Greta shouted loudly from her position in the front seat of the nearby car, making sure that Chloe could hear her response.

"Oh, you guys!," Chloe exclaimed through the phone line, an unexpected smile crossing her face. "You are both so sweet! But, this is something I have to do, for my own peace of mind. I need to be the one who places the bug in that awful mausoleum. It'll help me exorcise my own personal demons from the last time I was here."

"Right," Hope agreed, but a small amount of concern continued to lace her statement. "We're here for you, Chloe. Always. We will be listening. If you get into any sort of trouble with DiMera, I'll come in for you."

"I know," Chloe smiled again as she responded to Hope's unconditional support. "You are absolutely amazing, Hope! I hope one day that Shawn and Bo will realize exactly what they let get away from them. You are the kindest, compassionate, most supportive person I have ever met. They have to be crazy if they can't understand your perspective about the past." Chloe took a deep breath before she continued with her opinions to Hope. "You are only guilty of wanting to protect and preserve your family, Hope. Never forget that."

Hope brushed a stray tear that fell down her face. "Chloe, damn you! Now you've made me cry!" She took a deep breath to compose herself and then ordered Chloe, "Now go in there and kick some DiMera ass!"

Chloe laughed delightedly as the line went dead. "Gladly, Hope, gladly." She knew that Hope could hear her through the bug attached to her necklace, and that she was would be laughing now. "Here we are," Chloe said to her necklace, and to the companions in the car a little farther down the road from the mansion, "ready to begin our final stage. Let's break a leg, girls!"

With that prophetic statement of good luck, Chloe opened her car door and strode confidently up the sidewalk to the impressive door of the mansion. She knocked loudly on the door, beginning to eagerly anticipating this confrontation with Stefano DiMera.

"Miss Lane! I mean, Princess!" Illeanna said, flustered, when she opened the door to the surprising guest on the doorstep. She couldn't believe this woman had come back to the mansion. Illeanna had never found out exactly what had happened the last time she was here, but she had witnessed a broken, destroyed, devastated Chloe Lane exit the mansion. What courage to come back, she thought, hoping it wasn't blind and stupid courage.

Chloe walked over the threshold, not waiting to be invited in by Illeanna. "Good day," she greeted Illeanna with a warm smile. "Is my father in this morning?" Chloe inquired, even though she knew the answer. Stefano's activities had been closely monitored by Ethan since early this morning.

"Illeanna, who is at the door?" Stefano asked as he walked to the hallway from the living room, carrying a rolled-up newspaper with him. He looked up and allowed a surprised look to cross his face before he could hastily wipe it away. He had not predicted this visitor to his house. "Chloe, what a surprise!"

"I'm certain it is," Chloe responded with a sarcastic grin. She walked with continued confidence from the hallway into Stefano's living room, passing him without an acknowledgement of his presence.

Stefano raised his eyebrow as he once again showed his surprise and followed closely behind Chloe. He closed the connecting doors with a snap, in order to give the two of them privacy. "Like I said, this is a surprise. Pleasant or not?"

"Probably, not," Chloe answered, deliberately hesitating on her answer, as she surveyed the room in front of her quickly. When her eyes fell on the object she was searching for, she looked immediately towards her father. "I did not like how our meeting went the other day, at Salem Place, so I have decided to remedy that."

Stefano walked over to his liquor stand and began pouring himself a drink of brandy, even though it was late morning. "Drink?" he asked his daughter politely, who refused with a shake of her elegant head. Stefano drank briefly from his glass, and then asked Chloe, "So, what did you want to remedy about our last meeting?"

Chloe trailed her hand across the mahogany coffee table, keeping her prey in the corner of her eye. Maybe I am more of a DiMera than I would like to admit, she thought as she pondered the consequences of her next move with Stefano. "I wanted to make a few things clear to you. Stefano." She added his name deliberately, letting DiMera know clearly that she did not expect to acknowledge his relationship to her.

Stefano held a tight lid on his sudden fury that her deliberate use of his first name erupted in him, trying to remain calm before his daughter. He couldn't fathom a reason for this sudden visit by her. He spread his arms out in front of him, deciding to allow her to continue. "By all means, my dear."

Chloe slowly sauntered over to the chessboard that was set up across from the sofa. She picked up a pawn from the board and inspected it, in much the same way Stefano had done the fateful day he had ruined her dreams. Only it's payback time now, she thought, her excitement over the imminent downfall of her father overriding any anxiety she felt about meeting with him.

She began her reasons for being there slowly, as she turned the pawn around in her hand. "The last time I was here, you made me your newest pawn. You like to force people to bend to your will, to do what you want them to do. Look at Hope Brady. You took her memory and implanted someone else's in her mind. Hope could not control her actions when you wiped out her cherished memories. You made her become a completely different person! As a consequence of your interference, Hope's world shattered. You watched blithely by as her life crashed around her, and continued to add to it. I'll even bet that you enjoyed her pain."

Stefano watched his daughter closely, trying to interpret the look on her face, but he only meet with failure this time. "Of course I enjoyed her pain, Chloe. And the pain of her son and husband. I knew exactly how Bo and Shawn Brady would react to their precious Hope. They are like puppets, and I so enjoyed pulling their strings, dictating in which direction they would go. I was ecstatic that Bo and Shawn behaved so predictably, blaming Hope for actions she couldn't possibly control. Hope Brady has been one of my best pawns yet."

Chloe nodded as she said, "Hmm. That's true. You seem to have collected a lot of pawns over the years. Your plan for Hope was much more complicated than your plan for me."

"Exactly," Stefano agreed smoothly. He was beginning to realize that Chloe had come her to show her "strength" to him. He could admire her courage. After all, she was a DiMera. "I had two very simple plans for you. One, to make you accept the name DiMera." He laughed suddenly in remembrance. "But you couldn't be bribed. You willingly gave up every chance to become a huge opera star, simply for your ethics! I commend you for your beliefs, my dear, I truly do."

Chloe laid the pawn back down on the board with a sharp snap, and kept her hand trained on the side of chessboard. "Yes, you couldn't bribe me to do what you desired with the first deal. But, in the end, I ended up doing exactly what you wanted me to."

"Ah, yes, plan B." Stefano laughed as he remembered the pain that one caused to the Black family. "I have come to enjoy plan B so much more than my initial plan for you. And you have fulfilled it admirable."

"You've also kept up your end of it. That surprised me," Chloe admitted to her father, meeting his gaze squarely.

Stefano waved his hands expressively in the air. "Think nothing of it, my dear Chloe. I was perfectly willing to end my devious plans for the Black family, as long as you successfully ended your relationship with Brady Black. I must admit," he said with an evil laugh that sent shivers up Chloe's spine, "I have adored the pain your supposedly careless leaving has caused all of the Blacks. And they have never known that I orchestrated the whole set-up! You have taken the responsibility for it!" He laughed snidely as he waved one hand lightly in the air. "So much better than anything else I could have planned for the Blacks."

Stefano placed his brandy glass gently on the table as he continued, "And I was able to prove to you, my youngest daughter, exactly how ruthless I could be. You snubbed me, Chloe, and your heritage. My second plan was aimed at you and the Blacks. You have experienced pain, so much more pain than Brady Black. Your pain has no end. Any pain Brady feels at your desertion should be long gone by now. You, and you alone, have the unfortunate knowledge about the reason for your break-up. Brady continues to be blissfully unaware of your true motives, and is able to move on with his life. Instead, you are caught in that painful tailspin. I believe that you will never recover from the pain of the enforced separation, my dear."

"Well," Chloe countered her father, holding onto her anger tightly and preparing to complete her reason for being her, "I am here to tell you that I will continue to adhere to our deal. But, I will never be your pawn again!" With that, Chloe used both of hands to upend Stefano's beloved chessboard onto the carpeted floor of the living room.

Stefano's response was immediate and furious as the chessboard and its pieces cluttered to the ground. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" he roared at her with livid fury painted across his face as he bent down to pick up some of the pieces.

While his head was down and he was busy picking up the pieces, Chloe quickly leaned down and attached the small bug to the bottom of the chessboard. She placed it so it was standing the right way. "Just proving my point, Stefano, dear." She repeated the "dear" sarcastically to her father, pleased with the outcome of this meeting. Chloe looked down her nose at her father and turned around, leaving the room at a dignified pace. She grinned to herself as she saw herself out of the stuffy mansion. I wonder if the bug will be able to pick up any incriminating information, Chloe wondered as she headed towards her car.

Stefano called angrily for Illeanna as he searched for his beloved chess pieces on the ground, absolutely furious at his youngest daughter. "Illeanna!" he shouted loudly, his voice echoing throughout the house. "Get in here and help me clean this mess up!"


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

The night breeze blew gently in off the water as the two women calmly faced the cool wind. It was surprisingly warm for an early winter evening in Salem. "You were amazing today," Hope said proudly as she offered her congratulations to Chloe about her successful confrontation with DiMera. "We were in complete and total awe of how you handled the entire situation. I couldn't believe how cool, calm, and collected you were when Stefano verbally attacked you."

Chloe continued to look out at the water as she carefully choose a reply to Hope's statements. "It was a lot easier this time. Probably because I didn't have that much to lose. I lost everything to that bastard before."

Hope stepped up behind Chloe and leaned her head on Chloe's shoulder, gazing out at the water with her. "Thank you so much for defending me to Stefano," she whispered into Chloe's ear. "It was so wonderful to have someone finally stick up for me and my actions to that monster."

Chloe brought her hand up to the one Hope had placed on her shoulder, clasping Hope's tightly. "Every word I spoke was true, Hope. I only wish that I could knock some sense into Bo and Shawn's head. They give new meaning to the word "stubborn"."

Hope couldn't prevent the laugh that trickled out of her mouth as she held onto Chloe's hand. "That's one of the reasons why I love them so much! They are both so stubborn and pig-headed. It made for some terrific fights. And awesome make-ups, with Bo, of course." Hope smiled as she felt the wind lift her hair up gently. She was transported back to one of the many times her and Bo had made passionate love after an argument.

Chloe could tell that Hope's mind had wandered to more pleasant times. "Have you seen Bo since that night at Tuscany?" Chloe eventually ventured in question to her good friend.

Hope nodded her head as she dropped her arms from Chloe. She began pacing in agitation up and down the pier as she recounted the unfortunate meeting. "I ran into him this afternoon, after your amazing meeting with Stefano. Anyway, I was shopping, buying a few last minute Christmas gifts for J.T. I came out of the store and stepped right in front of Bo! Wow, what a shock! At first, he seemed happy to see me, but then the memories of my "deceit" must have come back to haunt him. He didn't even greet me. He simply stepped out of my way and walked around me." She laughed in remorse for what might have been. "At least Shawn talks to me, even if it is in anger."

"Hope," Chloe said sympathetically, not certain how to respond to her friend. She knew what it was like to lose everything. No words could make such a devastating lose easier to face.

Hope held her hand up, preventing any other words from spilling out of Chloe's mouth. "Stop. We have all made our choices here, Chloe, and we have to live with them. You have been just as hurt as me. Now, it's almost time to start healing. We have one simple matter to take care of first."

"And we are going to do it," Chloe responded strongly. She could not wait for Stefano to face what they had planned for him. "He'll never know what hit him, until it's too late."

Hope nodded vigorously in agreement and then gasped as she looked suddenly at her watch. "Uh oh! Look at the time! I promised J.T. we would have "movie night" tonight! I've got to get to the video store!"

Chloe waved her friend on with a cheerful smile. She wasn't ready to leave the lonely comfort of the pier. It was one of the few places in Salem where she could feel at peace with herself. "I want to stay, for awhile longer," she announced to Hope quietly. "I'll be home later." She watched Hope walk away at a furious clip from the pier, eager to see her son. "J.T means everything to her," Chloe noted quietly. "And so do Bo and Shawn." Her heart sighed in sorrow for Hope.

Chloe turned her head and continued to gaze over the water, analyzing the future of her life. They were so close to getting DiMera that she could start to consider what would happen next in her life. For so long, bringing her father down had been the only thing she focused on in her life. We only need to find out one more thing, before we can nail him to the wall, Chloe thought as she mentally reviewed the next part of the plan. Now the time for final revenge was almost here.

Chloe eventually turned away from the water and placed her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket. She continued to walk down the pier, reviewing varying options for her future. She was extremely preoccupied with her thoughts, and didn't realize that she had strayed from the most populated part of the pier.

After a few minutes of casually strolling, Chloe stopped suddenly and inspected her unfamiliar surroundings very closer. This part of the pier that she had stumbled onto was very dark, awfully deserted, and extremely desolate. No one was around. She started to walk a little faster as an uneasy feeling overcame her, keeping her eyes fixed straight ahead. She felt like she wasn't alone anymore as she increased her pace. Suddenly, two sweaty hands grabbed her from behind and whipped her viciously around.

"Hey, baby," a dirty man with whiskey on his breath, said as he held onto Chloe tightly and whispered into her ear. "You sure are a looker. What do you say you come with me? I can show you a good time." He leered drunkenly at her.

Chloe leaned back as far from the man as his grip would allow, staring at him in extreme disgust. She looked around her quickly, but didn't see anyone nearby who could assist her. Surprise, surprise, she thought. "I don't think so," Chloe answered him smartly as she brought her leg up and kicked him squarely in the shin.

Chloe took off like a shot when the man dropped her arms in surprise, sprinting quickly across the boards of the pier. She kept her eyes trained in front of her, knowing that she could lose valuable seconds from the man who was chasing her if she looked over her shoulder. And he was chasing her. She could hear the pounding of his feet echoing behind her. Why didn't I pay more attention to where I was going? she chided herself mentally and uselessly.

Just when she thought she had outdistanced the damn drunk, she heard him give a loud grunt. She couldn't prevent the horrific scream that erupted from her throat as he tackled her from behind. Chloe hit the boards, hard. The man placed one arm on her back, forcing Chloe to continue lying down, facing the boards. His other hand held tightly onto her ankle.

"Get your fucking hands off me!" she screeched angrily at him as she attempted to kick him in the face. The only problem was her face was to the boards, so she couldn't get proper leverage. She attempted to flip herself over, but he prevented it easily.

The drunk held on tighter. The gleam of victory was in his eyes as he peered down at the struggling woman below him. "I don't think so," he said as he viewed the beautiful bounty below him, surprised at his amazing find. "I'll let you go when I am good and ready."

Chloe felt for a stick, anything, that she could use to knock some much needed sense into this horrible man. She breathed heavily as she felt the man's hand travel up her short skirt and touch her knee. "Stop it, you bastard!" she yelled at him with a combination of fear, livid anger, and mortification.

He laughed and prepared to move his hand up higher on her leg with his hand. Suddenly, Chloe felt his presence disappear from her body. She heard a loud "thump" behind her, followed by a couple lower-sounding "thwacks." The man's hands were thankfully no longer touching her anywhere. Chloe breathed a sigh of relief as her own hand dropped the large stick she had found a second earlier back on the pier.

The sound of combat ended extremely quickly. Chloe heard someone kneel down carefully next to her. She could see a pair of black boots near her shoulders. Suddenly, a pair of hands was reaching slowly in front of her face. Chloe's nerves were shot by now, and she recoiled uneasily from their presence. The hands took control of the situation and easily gripped her shoulders, lifting her gently to her feet.

"Are you hurt?" a familiar voice asked in quiet concern as the woman before him kept her eyes trained on the boards of the pier. He felt lucky that he had been in the vicinity when he heard her first scream and could prevent the attack from being any worse for the unfortunate woman in front of him. He kept his hands on her shoulders, attempting to offer support and comfort.

Chloe took a deep breath in splendid surprise and brought her head up to meet Brady's bright blue eyes, looking with quiet concern at her. She couldn't believe that her "Black" knight in shining armor had rescued her from that horrible man. Even though she had finally armed herself to even things up with that stick, and had been preparing to take the bastard on herself. "Brady!" she whispered in astonishment to him.

"Oh, god. Chloe," Brady groaned regretfully in response, upset that his Chloe had been the victim of that fucking drunk. He felt blessed fury erupt through him as he looked over at the unconscious man near his feet. Only one solitary thought ran through Brady's mind. That man had attempted to hurt Chloe. His Chloe. Brady suddenly wished the man was still conscious. Then, he would have the pleasure of knocking him out again, this time with much more righteous anger.

Then, he forced his gaze to leave that pile of garbage and looked into the devastated features of his former girlfriend. In that instant, Brady forgot his own unending pain, that him and Chloe were no longer together. Brady saw the fear on Chloe's face, fear that the drunk had caused, and Brady erased their painful past. For the moment.

He reacted to Chloe's pain and fear, and pulled her gently into his arms. Hell, he thought as Chloe buried her head once again into his shoulder, this felt so damn good! He cuddled her protectively to him, whispering calming, meaningless words into her ear, while she shivered sporadically in slight shock. He gently laid his head on top of hers, relishing the wondrous feel of having her in his arms again. He inhaled the familiar scent of her hair, closing his eyes slightly in ecstasy.

"I'm taking you home with me," Brady said finally as he felt Chloe's trembles increase because of delayed shock at her horrible ordeal. Chloe nodded her head weakly in agreement, too weak to offer any prudent objection. Chloe simply rejoiced in being in Brady's arms again. He began to lead Chloe gently down the pier and toward his apartment, keeping his arm tightly wrapped around her shoulder. At that moment, nothing in the world could have torn him away from her. He didn't consider the consequences of taking Chloe to his apartment. All he recognized at this moment was that Chloe had been horribly frightened and he simply had to comfort and protect her.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

Brady continued holding Chloe closely to him, assisting her as they exited the elevator and headed to his own apartment. "I've got you, Chloe," he murmured to her as they walked slowly down the hallway. "You're safe now." He wanted to comfort her, to protect her. His own rage at what had nearly happened was taking a backseat to Chloe's emotions right now. She had started to shake in response to the attack during the elevator ride to his apartment, showing Brady that the numbing shock of the experience was about to wear off. He wanted to get her inside his place, where he could take care of her properly. At the moment, neither one of them was thinking about their painful past. They were simply living in the moment.

"We're almost home," he said soothingly, not even realizing the strong meaning of his words to her. "Only a few more steps now." He felt Chloe nod her head as her body continued to shake slightly in reaction to her ordeal. Brady kept one arm around Chloe as he searched for his keys in his pockets, pressing her close to him. Chloe responded to his strength and nearness by placing her head on his chest. Then, he fitted the key easily into the lock and opened the door.

"All right, here we are." Brady led Chloe through the door. He closed the door quickly, but forgot to lock it in his concern to get Chloe into his kitchen, where he wanted to inspect her for any bodily damage from the attack.

When they reached his kitchen, Brady gently lifted Chloe onto his kitchen table. He immediately saw the scrapes through her ruined silk stockings from her hard fall on the pier. "You knees look raw," he explained in concern to Chloe as he met her eyes.

Chloe was finally able to read emotions in Brady's eyes again. Her heart rejoiced when she saw the tenderness reflected through his amazingly blue eyes. She nodded shortly in response to his voiced concern as she started to experience the sharp pain from the fall. "They hurt, too," she answered inanely as she gingerly touched her sore knees. "Ouch!" she gasped loudly, and immediately took her hands off of them.

Brady's hands held onto Chloe's forearms, running slowly down them until he cupped her elbows. His anger and pain at Chloe's desertion of him were completely forgotten as he searched her eyes for the exact extent of her pain and shock. "Do you hurt anywhere else, Diva?" he asked her, again not realizing the words that were escaping his lips. His affectionate term of endearment for her slipped unwittingly and unknowingly past his lips.

Chloe pursed her lips together as she attempted not to cry and completely failed. He had called her "Diva"! The physical pain from her attack and Brady's expressed compassion for her caused her eyes to well up with a wealth of tears. Her eyes seemed to grow larger as she blinked rapidly, losing sight of Brady's beloved face. "Only…my…knees," she hiccoughed inelegantly as tears started to cascade down her face. She brought her hands up to cover her face from his view.

"That bastard!" Brady swore violently as his tender actions belied the anger in his tone. He very gently and tenderly gathered Chloe into his arms again, letting her cry on his shoulder. He ran his arms up and down her back, marveling at the feel of her in his arms again, as he pressed her tightly to him.

"I would have taken care of him," Chloe insisted into Brady's chest. She always wanted to be able to take care of herself. "I would have! I had found a stick. I was going to hit him, to knock him out." She shivered again in remembrance of the past few minutes.

"You didn't have to, Chloe," Brady murmured quietly to her, grateful that he had been there to beat the shit out of the dirty bastard. "I took care of him for you. He won't bother you again." He continued to hold her until he felt her tears and her shaking nearly end. He stepped back from their embrace and used his hand to lift her face up. The tears drying on her face shook his heart to the core. "Hey, Chloe. I'm going to go get some antiseptic and bandages. Clean your knees up. Will you be all right?" he asked in gently concern as his hand gently caressed the side of her face.

Chloe brought her hand up to her face, covering her hand with his. She held the contact, then abruptly let go. They exchanged when of their soul-searching looks. Chloe nodded her head and verbally agreed to his request with a barely audible, "O.k." She watched as Brady stood up and left the kitchen, presumably heading to the bathroom to get his supplies.

Chloe looked curiously around her for the first time as she wiped the remaining traces of her tears with the back of her hand. Now that the shock of her vicious encounter was starting to wear off, Chloe could begin to truly appreciate the surprise that Brady had come to her rescue. And that he was being so gentle and tender with her, treating her like she was the most precious person in his life. "That's how he always treated me," she said quietly to herself. She turned her head quickly when she heard Brady open the kitchen door.

Brady entered the kitchen, his arms loaded with any type of first-aid supply they could possibly need to clean her up. "Did you say something, Chloe?" Brady asked as he laid the supplies down on the counter near the sink.

Chloe turned her head quickly, causing her hair to cascade like a dark waterfall around her. "No," she said immediately as she watched Brady walking towards her, drinking in the sight of this amazing man. Her one huge regret in her life.

Brady's memory was still faulty. He couldn't get beyond his concern for Chloe after her attack. That was taking center stage of all the emotions he felt when he thought about Chloe Lane. He kneeled down in front of her and slid her shoes off her feet. Then, his hands went to her legs, enjoying the luxurious feel of her skin through the silk stockings. They got as far as her knees when he realized that he shouldn't be the one to peel her stockings off of her and he sighed deeply in regret. "Ah, Chloe?"

Chloe was gazing in fascination at his hands on her knees. She couldn't believe the amazing tingling his slight touch was creating throughout her. She had to visibly tear her eyes away from the visual proof of his touch before she could answer him. "Yes?"

"You're, ah, going to have to slide off your stockings." Brady flushed slightly. He purposefully stood up and turned his back on her, waiting for Chloe to complete the task. He busied himself by pouring the antiseptic onto a gauze pad. When he was sure Chloe was finished, he turned around and began cleaning her cuts and scrapes.

"Ouch!" Chloe hissed as the antiseptic burned her sensitive skin. She looked at him in righteous outrage.

Brady chuckled huskily at Chloe's reaction to the antiseptic. "Baby," he accused her playfully, allowing a joking smile to cross his face. He had enjoyed bantering with her from the first day they met on the pier. "The cure always hurts. You need it in order to heal."

Chloe gazed skeptically at Brady as he performed the same treatment on her other knee. "And I suppose that's why you have such a huge grin on your face? You're enjoying this!" Chloe accused him, trying not to allow a smile to show on her face. She failed miserably.

Brady chuckled again as he finished with the antiseptic, and placed bandages on both knees. He tapped both legs, like one would do with a child, and then stood up. "All done. I'm going to wash my hands," he said to Chloe and proceeded to do just that. "I don't think you will ever win "patient of the year," he called to her over his shoulder as he turned the faucet on.

Chloe smiled in bittersweet remembrance as Brady cleaned up, with his back to her. She had spent the past three years in Europe, living the life of a prominent princess and sought-after model. No man she had ever danced or conversed with had ever been able to pull the electric response out of Chloe that Brady succeeded effortlessly in doing. Brady Black would always be her soulmate.

Chloe realized that, soon, memories of their past would take over. This was just a brief respite from all of her pain. However, Chloe didn't want to burst the bubble of contentment that was enveloping both of them at this moment, so she stayed exactly where she was. Even if it only lasts for a few more minutes, Chloe thought rationally, I will at least have another golden memory to cherish of Brady Black. Her eyes began to devour Brady from the back, desire sparking in her eyes for this absolutely wonderful man before she could extinguish it. For once, Chloe didn't have the strength to hide her feelings from him.

Brady turned around from the sink, drying his hands on a dishtowel. He was about to say something else when he met Chloe's eyes. He dropped the dishtowel abruptly and strode purposefully towards Chloe. Chloe gasped out loud when she met his eyes, shocked at the revealing look in them.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

Chloe couldn't believe the look she correctly interpreted in Brady's eyes, a look she never thought she would see again. After their recent meetings in Salem, Chloe believed that he was completely indifferent to her. Now, tonight, in his kitchen, she began to realize that Brady was as successful at hiding his emotions as she was. The pain that Stefano DiMera had successfully orchestrated between them was forgotten in the heat of their shared desire. For this one, all-consuming moment.

Brady could tell by Chloe's slight gasp that she recognized the burning desire he felt for her in his eyes. He knew that he should be careful and prevent her from knowing about it, at all costs, but, for some odd reason, he simply couldn't recall why at this particular moment. All that mattered, right here, right now, was that Chloe was in his apartment, on his turf, looking at him with passion once again in her eyes.

Chloe watched as Brady meaningfully made his way to her. He appeared to be moving in slow motion, but she knew that wasn't the case. Her senses were simply heightened, waiting impatiently for their explosive desire to consume them both. Brady finally reached the table and she sighed with relief. Chloe waited for him to completely possess her mouth as his hands found a secure spot on her hips. Now, she ordered Brady impatiently in her mind.

Brady couldn't prevent a smug smile from crossing his lips, making Chloe wonder fleetingly if she had said that aloud. "Whatever you say," he murmured to her as his lips began a slow descent to hers and began to comply with her request.

When their lips connected, Chloe swore that the world stopped moving. Suddenly, her entire being, which had survived without him, let her know exactly what she had been lacking for the past three years. She pressed herself to Brady's chest, holding onto him tightly as she gave herself up to the wildness of the moment.

Brady wanted the kiss to be soft, tender, gentle, but his body wouldn't respond. Instead, the kiss was the extreme opposite. It was hard, hot, and extremely passionate. He felt like he had only been half alive for the past three years, without this undeniable passion in his life. He continued kissing Chloe, not allowing either one of them to break it, as his hands roamed freely over her body. Chloe responded exquisitely, her hands reacquainting themselves with Brady's heart-stopping physique.

He wasn't aware when he gently lifted Chloe off of the table, without breaking any type of physical contact. Or when they walked haltingly out of the kitchen and down the hall. Chloe Lane completely consumed him and all of his senses. All he could concentrate was on this kiss, this kiss he never wanted to end.

Brady placed Chloe strategically against the wall, using the wall to brace her so he could have better access to the front of her body. His hands cupped her breasts, teasing her nipples through the fabric of her dress, and causing moan after moan to escape from Chloe's mouth. He caught each moan breathlessly, and even managed to return a few in exchange.

Chloe used her hands to pull Brady even closer, not letting him break any type of physical contact. She wanted him to know exactly how much she craved him, and this amazing desire they still shared for each other. Time had not dimmed it, by any degree. If anything, their desire only burned brighter than before.

Brady slipped his hand under her shirt, feeling the gloriously soft texture of her skin. He felt a groan whip through him at the erotic touch, loving the way she felt. Chloe's sense kicked her into overdrive, causing her to respond much more fervently to Brady's touch. She pressed herself against him, bringing her hands down low on his back, finally landing on his adorable ass, pulling him even closer to her.

Their kiss continued on, with each displaying a passion neither one had known that they were capable of. Brady's hands proceeded higher under her shirt, until they were rudely snapped back to reality. Suddenly, the loud noise of a siren from the street below, broke the spell, intruding on both of their participation in their all-consuming, passionate kiss.

The two of them broke the kiss, practically at the same time, in response to the intrusion. Chloe attempted to catch her breath as she weakly laid her palms flat against the wall, bracing herself and keeping her upright. Her body wanted to give out and collapse in a puddle at his feet. He kissed me senseless! she thought in amazement as her passion slowly started to dissipate. And the ugly head of reason in the form of Stefano DiMera and his diabolical deal began to reassert itself within her conscience.

Brady placed both hands on the wall, one hand by her shoulder and the other by her hip. Chloe was loosely caged in by him, but Brady wasn't in physical contact with her now. His breathing slowed as he used a few minutes to calm down as his extreme reactions to the night's events inserted itself into his mind and he began analyzing the situation.

Chloe wasn't ready to meet Brady's gaze. How could she, after such an awesome display of passion? She had never known that she was capable of such intense desire. They had never, ever come close to such an explosive response before. If that loud siren hadn't broken in on them, Chloe didn't know how far the kiss would have gone. She breathed deeply while her eyes looked over his shoulder, without making visual contact with Brady. Straight across from her, looking mighty inviting and extremely tempting, was Brady Black's bed.

Brady glanced down at Chloe, his eyes now completely hooded, and cocked his head to one side. He wondered what was causing that look of fascination on her face and followed her eyes to his bed. "We can go in there," he invited her, "but neither one of us is going to like ourselves in the morning."

Chloe gulped audibly as his meaning sunk in. Her body wanted her to leap at his offer, to throw caution to the wind and experience the many delights to be had in Brady Black's bed. "I, ahhh, you're right," she finally got out over the lump of shock in her throat.

Brady's mind was beginning to function perfectly again. He couldn't believe that it had taken such a long break from him this evening. He had seen Chloe, attacked and hurt, and all of the pain and devastation she had caused him flew out the window. Completely forgotten. He only saw Chloe and her pain. His own raw emotions hadn't mattered. Until now, when the reaction of her horrific ordeal had disappeared from both of them. He still continued to look at the bed as he pointed out to Chloe, "But it would just be sex. Pure, passionate sex. Not love. You and I will never be able to make love together."

Regrets poked into Chloe's heart painfully as she recalled the wonderful feelings they had shared a few minutes earlier. And, from Brady's viewpoint, he was right. He only knew that she had deserted him, turned her back indifferently on his offered love, trust, and unconditional support. She had to make sure he continued to believe it, too, in order to protect his family from her father. She was disgusted with herself when she momentarily considered the "just sex" option he casually offered her. Chloe forced her eyes to meet Brady's and reluctantly agreed with him. "You're right."

When Chloe didn't expound upon her statement, Brady dropped his arms and turned away from her, before any regret could be reflected on his face. He headed back into the kitchen, where Chloe heard him dial his kitchen phone. She used this valuable alone time to begin to rope her rioting emotions back under control. When Brady came back out of the kitchen, Chloe had wiped any trace of remaining passion from her face.

Brady placed his hands in his pocket as he looked at Chloe from a goodly distance, with nearly the entire length of his living room between them. He didn't trust himself to get too near her, not when a bed was so close by and easily accessible. "I called you a cab," he began, not allowing any emotion to permeate his voice, a nearly impossible feat after the events of the past hour. "It'll be here in a few minutes."

"Thanks, Brady," Chloe managed, nearly in perfect calm, as she finally pushed herself away from the wall. She stopped in front of Brady, with the coffee table in the living room separating them. "I really want to thank you. For helping me tonight with that awful man. I appreciate it."

"I would have done the same for anyone," Brady answered. No, he wouldn't! Brady's conscience taunted him. The only woman he would have brought back to his apartment and given such tender, loving care, was presently standing in front of him. But, Brady realized, the walls between them were back up, where they needed to be for his emotional well-being, and as insurmountable as ever. Nothing had changed. She was still tantalizingly out of his reach, placed there by the consequences of her own actions three years earlier. He now knew for certain that he had been deluding himself that someday he would get over her. There was no getting over Chloe Lane. His ultimate shame of the situation was that there was nothing he could do to change it.

"I mean it," Chloe replied to his statement, feeling a little hurt and depressed that Brady didn't show any more visible concern for her, after the kindness and compassion he had gifted her with earlier. And the passion! She was about to say something else when there was an impatient knock at the door.

They both turned their heads as the doorknob rattled. "Brady!" Belle said in exasperation as the doorknob turned easily. "You really need to learn to lock your door!" She opened the door to his apartment and received the shock of her life.

Both Chloe and Brady looked at the new person in the room, not exactly certain how to respond to her unexpected presence. "What are you doing here?" Belle asked Chloe impatiently as she closed the door behind her. Hard. She inspected Chloe and Brady closely, recognizing the heavy tension in the air. And it's not all anger, Belle realized in impotent fury, glaring at Chloe. She could feel the passion radiating between the two.

"Don't worry," Chloe answered Belle's question reassuringly. "I'm leaving." Chloe walked slowly away from Brady. She passed Belle on the way out, picked up her coat from the sofa, and walked out the door.

Belle watched Chloe leave and then turned a look of shocked disgust on Brady. "What the hell is going on here? You could practically cut the tension between you two with a knife!" She placed her hands on her hips and prepared to interrogate her brother on the stupid decision to become involved with Chloe again.

Brady's eyes were on the door after it closed behind Chloe. "Something happened on the pier," he began slowly in explanation to Belle, starting at the beginning of the evening. "I heard a scream. When I went to investigate, I saw a man attacking a woman. I beat the sh t out of him, and then helped the woman up."

"And that woman was Chloe," Belle surmised correctly from Chloe's presence in the apartment. She didn't need Brady's nod of agreement to confirm her belief. "So, you brought her back here and comforted her." Belle began pacing furiously in front of Brady.

"Yeah," Brady answered her curtly, shaking his head slightly. Then he admitted as an afterthought, "And then I kissed her."

Belle's eyes reflected her disappointment and her worry for her brother. She flopped unceremoniously onto his comfortable sofa when his statement halted her furious pacing. "You didn't just say what I thought you did, did you?" She closed her eyes and answered her own question. "You did! How could you kiss her, Brady, after everything she's done to you? She hurt you, Brady, when she casually turned down your love and support. That's something none of us can ever forget."

Brady joined Belle on the sofa. He slumped on it, as his remaining passion for Chloe dissipated from his body. "I know, Belle. Believe me, I know. The kiss? Damn, I don't know where it came from. It simply happened. But, we stopped it before it became something else."

This next piece of information didn't sit well with Belle as her eyes opened wide in extreme surprise. This wasn't good news for her big brother, she thought in concern as her mouth dropped open. "Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! You had to stop it before it led to your bedroom? Oh my god, Brady! This is the woman who left you!"

Brady smirked slightly at his sister as he toyed with one of the pillows that decorated the sofa. "Thanks for the reminder. Anyway, we both realized that sleeping together was not the best possible thing we should do, so we called it quits."

Belle shifted closer to her brother and leaned against the back of the sofa. The knowledge of what almost happened here was not sitting well with Belle. Belle knew how vulnerable Brady was to Chloe, even though he attempted to hide it from her. But, she never expected to share this current conversation with him. He could possibly have slept with Chloe! Her anger at Chloe stemmed from the pain and devastation she had caused Brady when she had deserted him.

Belle twirled a lock of her hair around her finger. She sighed deeply as she announced to her brother, "O.k., Brady, drastic times call for drastic measures." She leaned on her elbow and faced him squarely. "Shawn and I are meeting Phillip and Mimi at The Blue Note tomorrow night. You're coming. And you're meeting my friend, Sarah, from Salem U. Remember? The cute blonde? I introduced you the day we graduated. She thinks you're really hot. Anyway, it could be a semi-date, maybe with the possibility of leading to a real date."

"I don't really like being fixed up by my sister," Brady replied as he looked at his sister, grateful for her unending support. "But I can see the determination in your eyes. You're not leaving here until I agree, are you?" Belle nodded vigorously at her brother, a smile finally starting to cross her face. He sighed deeply and in resignation as he admitted, "Fine. I'll do it." At least it will get my mind off of Chloe, Brady thought dismally. But he already knew that nothing would come out of the semi-date. His heart and soul belonged to another, even if that person had coldly and callously rejected him.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

Greta placed her hand on the door to The Blue Note, ready to assist in the next part of their plan for DiMera. But, before she opened the door, she looked back at her sister questioningly. "Let's clarify our plans for the evening, Chloe. It's very important that tonight goes off without a hitch."

Chloe looked around her, noticing that no one was around them. "Now is a good time to do this. We're alone." She stepped closer to Greta and talked in low voice. "Here's the plan. We know that Stefano and Lexi are already here, enjoying each other's pleasant company. We need to prevent them from leaving The Blue Note, if the need arises. However, neither one of them can return to the mansion until Hope has called us." Chloe was very grateful for this distraction because she was still dwelling on last evening's events with Brady, an event that she didn't know how to forget.

Greta patted her purse, which contained her cell phone. "Exactly. Hope and Ethan should be starting their search for Stefano's secret room, the room that contains all of his illegally acquired art. He can't go back home until Hope has cleared it with us."

"I can't believe our plan is starting to progress so quickly," Chloe whispered back to her sister, a tremor of excitement in her voice. "That bug I planted is turning out to be very valuable. We were able to learn of Stefano's plans and take advantage of his absence from the mansion. Now, I only pray that Hope and Ethan will be successful."

Greta smiled encouragingly at Chloe, preparing to finally open the door. "Well, we will find out soon. Come on, let's go do our part in tonight's scheme!"

The two women entered The Blue Note, quickly scanning the crowd gathered there. "Oh," Chloe said in disappointment. "Look, over there!" Greta followed Chloe's fingers. "It's Bo, and he's with that horrible woman! The snobby Elizabeth!"

"Ewww." Greta wrinkled her nose at the disgusting sight. Then, she peered closer at the couple and arrived at a different conclusion. "Chloe! Bo is completely indifferent to the prying claws of that woman! She is instigating their entire conversation! He looks like he would rather be somewhere else!"

"Like with Hope?" Chloe asked sarcastically. "Ah, there's our prey now. See, partially concealed by that awfully large fern? Our wonderful father, and beloved half-sister." She looked around, looking for the best possible table for their plans for the evening. She found it, off to the side of the dance floor. "Let's snag that table, over there. That way, if he tries to leave, we could slip around and catch him before he goes out the door."

Greta turned and made her way to the tables, blatantly ignoring the low catcalls coming their way from some of the bachelors in residence. Her eyes opened wide when she had a clear view of the rest of the room. "Chloe, dear?" she asked questioningly. "This may not be the best table, after all."

Chloe glanced up from draping her coat over her chair. "Why is that?" she asked, with a puzzled look on her face. Then, she looked clearly at the new view their table had to offer and direct understanding hit her. Directly across from them, separated by the dance floor, was a sight she wished she didn't have to see tonight. Phillip and Mimi, Shawn and Belle, and Brady with some unknown blond chick, all conversing together at a large table. Chloe had to tear her eyes away from Brady and the pretty blond, and laughed slightly at her expense. "Well, like this evening couldn't possibly get any harder."

Greta touched her hand in sympathy. Chloe had shared her adventure with Brady with a sympathetic Greta and a concerned Hope. They had both let Chloe cry on their shoulders for what might have been. So, Greta knew exactly how hard it was for Chloe to observe Brady with another woman. She suggested in concern to Chloe, "We could always find another table, or move to the bar." Greta took a deep breath, and then continued hesitatingly, "I know this is even harder for you, especially after what happened last evening."

Chloe shook her head, turning her back on the group behind her. "No. We'll stay right her." She sighed deeply, and then changed the subject. Think about it later, she thought to herself. Much later. "I had a wonderful lunch today with Nancy and Craig. They are so excited that we are considering expanding our company here."

Greta brushed a brown lock of hair out of her face, and laid her hands on the table. She could see out of the corner of her eyes that the table across the way had recognized them. Belle Black did not look very happy as she glared daggers their way. Or, more precisely, at Chloe. At least Brady seemed to be ignoring them. "They love you very much, Chloe. I am very glad that they remained part of your life, that you didn't end up losing so much."

Chloe smiled in genuine appreciation at her beautiful sister. She reached across the table and squeezed her hand tightly. "I am, too. But, when I start to get upset about the way my life has turned out, I realize how lucky I truly am. It's amazing, having two awesome friends standing in my corner, helping me fight my battles. I'm grateful that you are my sister."

"Ohhhhh," Greta nearly wept out, feeling her eyes fill up with tears. "Chloe Lane, that is the sweetest thing I have ever heard you say! I love having you for a sister, too!" She held onto Chloe's hand in response.

While they were looking and smiling at each other, a visitor approached their table. "Princess Greta!" Harold greeted her, smiling happily at her.

Greta gave Harold, who she adored completely, a huge grin. "Harold! It's so good to see you! Have you met my sister, Chloe?"

Harold smiled benignly at Chloe. "Oh, yeah! The other princess! And I must say, you are just as beautiful as your sister! Fantastic genes, truly. And I absolutely adore your hair!"

Chloe couldn't help laughing in enjoyment at Harold's exuberant praise. She had heard a lot about Harold over the years. "I'm charmed to meet you."

Harold gifted Chloe with an indifferent smile and turned back to Greta. "The reason why I came over here, Princess, is I really want to introduce you to my newest, ahh, friend. He's shy, though, and wouldn't come over to present himself. Would you be willing to come over to my table and meet him, like the gracious princess you are?"

Greta caught Chloe's eyes. She wanted to say no, in case something happened with their mission, but Chloe nodded affirmatively to Greta. "I can handle it," she mouthed to Greta. Greta stood up elegantly from her chair, and gave her hand to Harold. "Proceed on, love!" she said to him gaily, throwing Chloe a nervous look over her shoulder to betray the cheerful note in her voice. "I'll be back shortly," her eyes communicated to Chloe.

Chloe settled back into her chair, watching Harold and Greta weave in and out of the crowd. She felt her heart literally drop to the floor when she witnessed the pretty blond heavily flirting with Brady. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she concentrated on the lone couple at the table.

Then, she noticed a movement at the DiMera table, and momentarily forgot about Brady and his date. Brandon Walker was now sitting down with Lexi, as Stefano stood up to leave. She watched in horror as he bid farewell to Lexi and Brandon, and left the table. At least it's a distraction from Brady, she thought in slight relief.

Chloe immediately stood up from her table, and slipped through the slight opening that brought her to the bar. She walked quickly up to the bar, ignoring a man who attempted to catch her attention, and then completed an about-face. Chloe headed slowly to the main entrance of adjoining room, acting casually as if she was just returning from the bar. She wiped all expression off of her face when she approached the archway.

"Well, fancy this!" Chloe called out in feigned surprise as she met her father under the archway. "Running into my favorite person here, tonight, at The Blue Note! How lucky can a girl get?"

The sarcasm wasn't wasted on Stefano as he eyed his daughter warily. "I must say you have managed to surprise me once again, Chloe. Not many people can."

Chloe stepped off to the side, so that she wasn't blocking the entrance. Stefano joined her, started to relish the idea of another fascinating conversation with his daughter. Maybe he could even things up again.

Chloe faked interest in his statement by raising her eyebrow, a technique she had learned from observing Hope's startling maneuver. "How is that, Stefano?" she inquired innocently. Chloe could see over Stefano's shoulder, and watched as Greta met Harold's new friend. She then trained all of her attention on her father, knowing that she could not let him leave yet.

Stefano laughed slightly at his daughter's question. "The scene you staged the other day in my house was quite unexpected. I had not predicted that you would dare to challenge me, not openly and definitely not on my "turf". Commendable, actually."

"Flattery?" Chloe questioned her father. "Coming from you? Oh, I am truly touched." She sarcastically placed her hand over heart. And inwardly sighed with relief as Greta headed back to their table, pantomiming to Chloe that she was going to listen for Hope's phone call. Chloe nodded extremely slightly as she focused completely on her father.

A brief light of anger flashed in his eyes, but was quickly extinguished. "I do not if I should be pleased about your behavior or not," he admitted bluntly to her. "You have so much more courage than I ever gave you credit for. Of course, I am beginning to believe that it is foolish courage, but courage nonetheless."

Chloe turned briefly to the side, allowing a young couple to pass by her. Stefano moved also, allowing both of them side views of the dance floor. "I'm told that my mother was a very strong person," she said, needling him because she did not reference her father.

Stefano didn't respond to the jibe. Instead, he gifted Chloe with a large grin, relishing his next revelation to her. "Now that is what I like to see, a handsome couple slow dancing together on the dance floor. See how tightly he is holding onto her? And she is smiling, obviously enjoying being the object of his complete and undivided attention."

Chloe knew she shouldn't, but she fell into Stefano's trap. Brady was on the floor, dancing with the unknown woman. She watched Brady's fluid movements as the two of them swayed gently to the music. Her body remembered vividly the recent feel of Brady's hands on her, the evening before. Jealously flared across her features, especially after the recent passion they had exchanged. How could he be out with another woman after our kiss? Chloe's heart screamed in upheaval.

Stefano noticed Chloe's reaction and enjoyed a cruel laugh at her expense. "You certainly should have learned by now not to tangle with me, my dear. Brady Black and his family see you as the heartless enemy, the one responsible for his pain. None of them will ever know the truth behind it! You are the clichéd "stuck between a rock and a hard place"! I do so enjoy the view; it's kind of like watching a tragic opera!"

"You bastard!" Chloe hissed angrily at him, looking at him with hatred permeating from every pore of her being. She was about to continue with her tirade when she noticed Greta holding up her phone, signaling that Hope had finally called. She breathed an inward sigh of release, and stalked away from her father. His cruel, ruthless laugh followed her to her table as he departed The Blue Note.

"So sorry you had to do that!" Greta exclaimed in a light whisper as Chloe neared her. Chloe waved her statement off with her hand. "They found it!" Greta's eyes showed her excitement.

"Good," Chloe answered, allowing her pain to be revealed to Greta. "Can you make me laugh?" she asked as she took her seat again. "I really need to right now."

Greta licked her lips as she thought up something to amuse her sister, who looked extremely upset about her meeting with their father. Suddenly, one of her most delightful memories of Harold reasserted herself. "Did I ever tell you about how I attempted to set up Jack with Harold?" Chloe shook her head slightly. "Well, believe it or not, Jack and I were sitting at that table over there. I had arranged for Harold to have a surprise meeting with Jack. I was excited, but Harold was so nervous. He, ah, found us quickly here." Greta couldn't prevent a small laugh from escaping her lips as she paused briefly. "Harold, umm, started over to us. When he got within, oh, I don't know, five feet of us, he completely collapsed on the floor! It was the funniest damn thing I have ever seen in my life!"

Chloe began to laugh along with her sister, enjoying Greta's "Gay Jack" stories. She found each and every one of them hysterical.

Greta continued with her story, pleased with Chloe's response. "And Jack just looked at him, like Harold was the biggest oaf on this world! I was completely mortified, at the time. Now I find the whole incident hysterical."

Chloe covered her mouth as another grateful giggle escaped her. "Oh, that may be my favorite story yet." Her giggles started to dissipate eventually. When they were completely gone, Chloe looked meaningfully at her sister, and admitted, "I needed that. Thanks."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

"Oh, my," Greta exclaimed weakly, as her laughter finally subsided with Chloe's after recalling Harold's and Jack's first encounter. She looked and Chloe, and then mentioned that she needed to go to the little girl's room. "I really need to powder my nose," Greta said to Chloe as she wrinkled her nose at her. "Will you be fine here?"

Chloe shared a last giggle with Greta, disguising her inner turmoil at the night's events at the Blue Note. She HATED seeing Brady with another woman on his arm, especially after the passion they had so recently shared. She knew that he would have to move on, and without her, thanks to that bastard who fathered her, but, somehow, she had never been able to completely visualize him doing that. In her heart, Chloe hoped that Brady would always love her.

Chloe shooed Greta away with her hands. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Greta. I'll be fine." Greta smiled in response and departed from their table, leaving Chloe alone.

Chloe held her glass up to her lips, taking a careful sip as she gazed about the occupants of the Blue Note. Her eyes noted Bo and the "grand duchess", Elizabeth, dancing together. Not too close, though, Chloe thought, and Bo kept his hands strictly to normal areas: the shoulder and the waist. Belle and Shawn were dancing a lot closer, seeming to think that they were the only people in the restaurant. Mimi and Phillip were also dancing, but Mimi's face was animated as she discussed something with Phillip, who looked on with fascination at his girlfriend. What a cute couple, Chloe thought, genuinely happy for her ex-boyfriend and her old enemy. Brady and that damn chick weren't on the floor anymore, Chloe realized with a start.

The song that had been playing trailed off, and the strains of a new one started. Chloe jumped slightly when she recognized the opening. Whenever she heard this song, she couldn't help but think of her relationship with Brady. She had always wondered what would happen, when they would finally meet again. She was helpless to prevent her eyes from immediately seeking Brady, who was also sitting alone at a table across the way.

When Brady became acutely aware of the song that was playing, he immediately searched out Chloe. He knew exactly where she was, even though he had been doing his best to ignore her the whole night. An electric current passed between Brady and Chloe when their eyes met at the first strains of the song, searing each one to their soul.

 _There were nights when the wind was so cold  
But my body froze in bed  
if I just listened to it right outside the window  
There were days when the sun was so cruel  
I felt the tears turn to dust  
And I just knew my eyes were drying up forever  
Forever_

At the first lines of the lyrics, Chloe was thrown back in time to the awful night on the pier, when she had to break things off with Brady. The words suited her reaction to their break-up perfectly. She had felt frozen, cold, ever since she had left Brady Black.

 _I finished crying in the instant that you left  
And I can't remember when, or when or how  
And I banished every memory you and I had ever made_

Brady was equally affected by the words, as he remembered the battle he had fought to banish every single memory he had of Chloe after she had ended things with him, so coolly and coldly. He had only physically cried once for Chloe, the night it all ended. His heart and soul did all the crying since then, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that she no longer mattered. He had strictly concentrated on forgetting her. And nearly succeeded. "It's all coming back to me now, all the treasured memories of her," he murmured involuntarily as his eyes refused to leave Chloe's face from across the room. It felt like no one else was in the crowded room, just the two of them.

 _But when you touch me like this  
And you hold me like that  
I just have to admit  
That it's all coming back to me_

 _When I touch you like this  
And I hold you like that  
It's so hard to believe  
But it's all coming back to me  
It's all coming back,  
It's all coming back to me now_

Chloe continued to hold Brady's gaze also, allowing memories of her beautiful first summer with him to invade her thoughts. A happy smile touched her lips slightly and lit up her sapphire eyes as she recalled how Brady worked so very hard to keep her company and out of the "depths of despair."

They had done so many wonderful things that summer. Chloe's memory hung onto the memory of the time they went bowling. She flushed slightly as she thought of how Brady taught her to hold onto the ball by stepping behind her. Then, he helped her roll the ball down the alley by standing behind her, placing his hands loosely on her hips. Wow, she thought as her body could almost feel his physical proximity even now, how could I ever thought Brady had viewed me as just his sister's friend?

 _There were moments of gold  
And there were flashes of light  
There were things I'd never do again  
But then they always seemed right  
There were nights of endless pleasure  
It was more than any laws allow_

Brady heard the words, "moments of gold" and involuntarily flashbacked to one of his many "gold" memories of Chloe Lane. He had just stepped out of the kitchen, eating ice cream from his bowl, when Chloe, clad in only a skimpy slip, floated down the stairs as she was preparing for the Last Blast Dance. He watched in amazement at the sight before him as she opened a shopping bag, searching for an elusive article. Brady could actually swear that his heart stopped beating, and that he was no longer breathing. The sight of Chloe Lane had literally taken his breath away. When he finally made his presence known to Chloe, she had acted so becomingly shy, a word he would never use to describe her. Then, she had quickly fled the room, like a butterfly floating gently on the wind. That was the turning point in his relationship with Chloe. He had known from that meeting that he would have to face his feelings for his diva; he could not deny them much longer.

 _Baby, baby,  
If I kiss you like this  
And if you whisper like that  
It was lost long ago  
But it's all coming back to me  
If you want me like this  
And if you need me like that  
It was dead long ago  
But it's all coming back to me  
It's so hard to resist  
And it's all coming back to me  
I can barely recall  
But it's all coming back to me now  
But it's all coming back to me_

Chloe remembered all of the passionate kisses they had shared after they had started officially dating. Their first kiss had come after a playful snowball fight. Brady had tackled her after she had attacked him with snowballs. The two of them had been laughing and the kiss took them both by surprise. It had been so unexpected, so incredibly sweet. It had been the catalyst for Chloe, causing her to overcome her fear of her emotions and admit her feelings for Brady to herself.

 _There were those empty threats and  
Hollow lies  
And whenever you tried to hurt me  
I just hurt you worse  
And so much deeper_

Chloe's smile in remembrance at such happy events slid away at the next lyrics to echo through The Blue Note. Brady watched her face in concern, noting the sorrowful look that was displayed clearly on her face. Stefano DiMera's face crossed her mind vividly, making Chloe recall the damn deal she had made with the devil himself. "I just hurt you worse and so much deeper," she sang lowly along with the song, realizing that the pain she had caused Brady was so much worse than the pain she experienced.

 _There were hours that just went on for days_  
 _When alone at last we'd count up all_  
 _the chances_  
 _That were lost to us forever_

 _Thought you were history with the slamming of the door_  
 _And I made myself so strong again some how_  
 _And I never wasted any of my time on you since then_

 _But if I touch you like this_  
 _And if you kiss me like that_  
 _It was so long ago_  
 _But it's all coming back to me_  
 _If you touch me like this_  
 _And if I kiss you like that_  
 _It was gone with the wind_  
 _But it's all coming back to me_  
 _It's all coming back,_  
 _It's all coming back_

 _There were moments of gold_  
 _And there were flashes of light_  
 _There were things we'd never do again_  
 _But then they always seemed right_  
 _There were nights of endless pleasure_  
 _It was more than all your laws allow_  
 _Baby, Baby, Baby_

 _When you touch me like this_  
 _And when you hold me like that_  
 _It was gone with the wind_  
 _But it's all coming back to me_  
 _When you see me like this_  
 _And when I see you like that_  
 _Then we see what we want to see_  
 _All coming back to me_  
 _The flesh and the fantasies_  
 _All coming back to me_  
 _I can barely recall_  
 _But it's all coming back to me now_

The dynamic kiss of yesterday crossed both their minds at the start of the next chorus: the passion that neither one of them could deny at that point in time. It had ignited so strongly, nearly burning each of them to a cinder. Suddenly, as Celine Dion sang out passionately, Chloe could almost feel Brady's strong arms around her, his lips on hers, gifting her with the most amazing kiss they had ever shared. Passion started to kindle deeply within Brady's eyes as the lyrics affected him the same way. He imagined that Chloe was right next to him, now, in his arms, and, instead of halting their passionate embrace, that it continued. There was such renewed passion in the looks the two shard across the room, completely unnoticed by everyone but the estranged couple.

 _If you forgive me all this  
If I forgive you all that  
We forgive and forget  
And it's all coming back to me  
When you see me like this  
And when I see you like that_

Chloe and Brady both felt the inexplicable pull between them, the connection that time and pain could not lessen. "Oh, Brady!" Chloe whispered hopelessly, knowing that he would not be able to understand what she was saying from across the room. "I wish I could tell you why I left, why I turned my back on you. That what I did, I did for you and your family. Maybe, then, you would be able to forgive me and we could put everything behind us. Forgive and forget. Just like the song says"

 _We see just what we want to see  
All coming back to me  
The flesh and the fantasies  
All coming back to me  
I can barely recall  
But it's all coming back to me now_

Brady let the remaining words of the song fall gently over him, as he listened to Celine Dion sing of love reconciled. "If only," he said sadly, "that could be us." But he didn't believed it ever could be now. Something drastic would have to happen for him to welcome Chloe back into his life.

 _It's all coming back to me now  
And when you kiss me like this  
It's all coming back to me now  
And when I touch you like that  
It's all coming back to me now  
If you do it like this  
It's all coming back to me now  
And if we…_

As the remaining words of the song slipped away, Greta and Sarah returned to their respective tables, breaking Brady and Chloe's intense connection.

Chloe hid her disappointment as she witnessed Brady greet Sarah with a small smile on his face. She didn't know that Brady would have given anything at that moment to have Chloe at his table, instead of Belle's friend. "I think I've had enough for one evening," Chloe announced to Greta. Greta looked at her sister knowingly and agreed. The two women quietly left The Blue Note. Only one person noticed their departure. Brady sighed inwardly and continued to make small talk with his semi-date.

 _*Song Credit: "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" by Celine Dion_


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

Hope placed the tray of cookies on the kitchen counter, smiling at Ethan as he poured himself a glass of milk at the counter. "I can't believe we were able to access his room so easily, Ethan! All those treasures, sitting locked up in his vault! What an amazing sight!"

Ethan couldn't help the grin that danced across his face at Hope's enthusiasm. Who could blame her? he thought contentedly. All three women deserved to bring DiMera down, to destroy his life as he destroyed theirs. "An eye for an eye," he mused slightly. Hope glanced at him in confusion, but he didn't clarify it. "I have found, in my career as an ISA agent, that the more cocky and confident a villain is, the less careful they become."

Hope chose a cookie from the platter and took a dainty bite from it. "I see what you mean. Stefano doesn't have a clue that we have been tracking his every move in Europe for the past three years. If he did, then he would take every precaution with his stolen art."

Ethan gulped down his milk before he replied to Hope. "Exactly, Hope. He feels no fear, no threat right now, even though his downfall is imminent. You are going to get him. And get him good."

They both faced the kitchen door when they heard the front door open suddenly. "Hope, Ethan!" Greta called out as she closed the front door behind her and Chloe. "We're back! Where are you?"

"In the kitchen," Hope yelled back to her friends, anxious to tell them about the night's events, "preparing an early celebration for tonight's extracurricular activities."

"It had better be something with chocolate," Chloe insisted as she walked through the kitchen door. All three women had one true weakness: chocolate! "And that amazing drink of all, hot tea!"

Hope grinned as the two women entered the kitchen, pleased with their arrival. She pointed cheerfully to the platter of chocolate chip cookies, with extra chocolate chips. "After living with you for so long, Chloe, I know your dependency on chocolate! And hot tea! What else would we drink after a successful night in beautiful Salem?"

Greta laughed at Hope's antics, pleased that the three women finally had something to celebrate. She joined Ethan at the counter, sitting next to him on one of the kitchen stools. "From Hope's cheerful mood, I take it tonight was a complete success?" she inquired to Ethan, wrinkling her brow until Ethan confirmed it.

Chloe brought over a mug of tea for her and Greta and sat across from them. "Well?" she prodded, hoping and praying for a completely successful endeavor.

Hope dropped onto the stool next to Chloe, draping her arm over her friend. "I think I hear some doubt in our sleuthing abilities!" she exclaimed, in feigned concern to her partner for the evening. "I guess they don't realize they are dealing with the top ISA agent and a former thief! We have amazing talents, don't we, Ethan?"

Ethan didn't attempt to prevent the laugh that slid out of his mouth. He adored spending time with these three women and had an enormous amount of respect for them. "Imagine that! Doubting us? I must admit, Hope, that you were able to break the code into that room very easily. I was seriously impressed, indeed I was."

"Hey!" Greta complained as she playfully punched Ethan in the arm. "Are you going to put our puny minds at ease or not? I know we only had to detain Stefano and Lexi tonight, not break into Fort Knox! But, I'm certain we could comprehend tonight's little adventure."

"Damn, it feels so good to laugh!" Hope shared with her friends as laughter trilled out of her mouth. "We didn't have a problem locating the room at all. We took all of the photographs we needed, developing in our basement as we speak. Everything was there, incrimination that bastard completely."

Greta's grin of bliss nearly split her face, it was so wide. "All our ducks are in a row, then. We're ready for the final phase. Wow!" A look of astonished amazement split her face as she gazed in wonder at her companions.

The same amazed look was reflected on Chloe's face. "Oh my god!" she exclaimed in awe, excitement coursing through her. "We are so close to taking him down. I can't believe it. Nearly everything the three of us have done for the past three years is going to pay off, soon, when we bring that bastard down for good."

"You are the best partners I have ever had," Ethan broke in as he chewed on a delicious chocolate chip cookie. "Very focused, very driven, very motivated. And extremely patient. You have all waited so long for this, to give DiMera exactly what he deserves. I am so proud of all of you." He glanced at all of the women in front of him. Then, his eyes found the gaze of one very special woman, the woman he loved. She smiled happily back at him, correctly reading the look in his eyes. Soon they would be able to announce their love to one and all.

Hope wiped the cookie crumbs on her napkin and inquired about their time at The Blue Note. "How was your evening? Did everything go smoothly?"

Chloe answered, hesitatingly, wondering how much she should reveal to them. "Yeah. No big snags or anything."

Greta snorted as she laughed at Chloe's response. She dunked her cookie in her mug of tea a few times before devouring it. "Right. Only that Chloe had to detain Stefano on her own while I conversed with an old friend! So sorry about that, little sister. I didn't mean to leave you hanging."

"Not a problem," Chloe assured her sister. "I'm getting kinda used to confronting our father. It's almost like a game now. We get to see who comes out ahead. Very challenging."

"So?" Ethan asked her when Chloe stopped to take a sip of tea. "Who came out ahead this time?"

Chloe allowed the corners of her mouth to pull up into what an optimistic person might call a grin. "He did, this time. But, it doesn't matter now because we are about to even things up and then surpass them! He will never have the upper hand again!"  
Chloe cheerfully bit into her cookie and then sighed in deliriously happiness as she made it clear to everyone there that she considered her discussion with DiMera closed. "These are soooo good!" she said ecstatically. "Any cookies I make are harder than bricks! Your grandmother is going to teach me how to make these heavenly cookies soon, isn't she, Hope?"

Hope nodded in agreement as she recognized Chloe's ploy and respected it. "She can't wait to get you in the kitchen, Chloe. She loves sharing her expertise with anyone who is interested."

Ethan attacked another cookie enthusiastically. "She certainly taught you how to bake well, Hope! These are delicious!" He sighed dramatically, and then continued onto the subject of Stefano DiMera. "We have everything we need now to expose him. Shall we discuss when?"

"Oh!" Chloe exclaimed as she answered his question confidently. She sat up straighter in her chair as she continued, "That goes without saying! We are going to expose him at the annual Christmas Ball at Tuscany. It's symmetry, Ethan. He destroyed our lives completely that evening, three years ago. It's only poetic justice to return the favor." Hope and Greta nodded in complete accord.

"Man," Ethan called out in admiration at the women's plans. "I would never want to have the three of you gunning for me! The combination you three make is deadly!"

The women smiled at each other, pleased at the compliment. "Nah," Greta disagreed with Ethan finally. "I think I can speak for Chloe and Hope when I say that we aren't deadly. We're notorious!"

Everyone laughed at Greta's pun. "And about to become more notorious," Hope interceded, "after our plans for Stefano DiMera at the Christmas Ball!" Hope stopped laughing and held her mug of tea in the air. "All right, ladies! And gentleman," she added, acknowledging Ethan's presence. "Let's have a toast! To success!"

The four of them toasted happily with Hope, enjoying the warmth and caring that enveloped them. Chloe watched the other converse, and smiled at their openness. She thought about how lucky she was to have such two strong women stand by her and support her, through this amazing endeavor they had nearly completed. Ethan had been a much-needed addition to their threesome. He brought so much expertise that they lacked. "We are going to do it," Chloe whispered to the group at large, her large eyes gleaming in excited anticipation.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

Brady stepped out of the kitchen in his apartment, carrying a plate with a large sandwich and a soda. He placed his extremely nutritious meal on the coffee table, flipped on the television set and settled down on the sofa to a solitary evening. Tonight was the annual Christmas Ball at Tuscany but Brady wasn't planning on going. He hadn't attended the ball in the years Chloe had been away, and didn't plan on changing his new tradition. The ball had way too many painful memories for him.

Brady was about to take a bite out of his sandwich when a loud knocking on the door interrupted his attempt. Brady looked at the door with an expression of extreme annoyance. He debated on whether or not to answer it.

"Brady Black!" Belle yelled through the door as she continued to pound loudly it. She wasn't certain how Brady would respond to this visit. "Open this door! Now! If you don't, I'll keep yelling! Your neighbors will hate you! They'll have you kicked out of the building!"

Brady sighed in resignation as he laid his sandwich back on its plate. He realized that it would be useless to pretend that he wasn't in residence, but he really didn't want to talk to Belle right now. He had a feeling he knew the reason for her visit.

Brady stalked to the door and opened it unceremoniously. Belle and Shawn met his eyes. Shawn gave Brady a sheepish, apologetic look while Belle eyed her brother with frustration. "I didn't think I'd see you two tonight," Brady said, his body blocking the door and their entrance to his apartment.

Belle pushed Brady aside with her hand, entering the apartment uninvited. Shawn followed, trying to hide a grin. He knew that Belle always got what she wanted whenever she dealt with Brady. She could get Brady to do anything for her. "Well, we're here!" Belle announced with forced cheerfulness. She noticed his sandwich on the living room table and walked over to it.

Brady gazed menacingly at his sister as she took a huge bite out of his sandwich and made a "hmmm, good" sound. "Go ahead, have a bite," he invited her sarcastically after she had already tried it.

Shawn couldn't help it; he started to laugh at the pair. "God, you two are hilarious! Watching you together makes me wish I had a sister to torment."

Belle grinned at her fiancé as she placed Brady's sandwich on the plate. "Shawn Brady, that is such a sweet thing to say!" She walked over to him and planted a large kiss on his lips.

Brady moaned as he averted his head from the kissing couple. "Guys, that's just gross. If you want to kiss, for god's sake do it elsewhere, o.k.?"

Belle turned in Shawn's arms and laughed delightedly. She loved her brother so much, and that was the reason why she was here to pull, push, or drag him to the ball tonight. "Brady, you really should be used to this now. You've seen me and Shawn kiss, like, millions of times since we've been dating. And that has been for three and a half years."

"It's still something I don't want to see, all right? Sometimes I wonder what's worse. Watching you two suck face or Dad and Marlena liplock." Brady gave an exaggerated shudder in assumed horror, causing the couple to chuckle at him. "I've come to the conclusion that it's a stalemate. The bottom line is, I don't want to see any of it."

Belle stuck her tongue out at her brother to express her opinions of his beliefs. "Then I suggest you cover your eyes." She leaned in and attempted to kiss Shawn again, but the two of them were laughing so hard that the attempt failed.

Brady joined in their laughter. "Fine," he announced when the laughter ended. "I think it's time to tell me why you have deigned to visit me this evening, especially when the ball starts in two hours. Shouldn't you be doing your hair, Tink?"

Belle waved her hands in the air, dismissing his sarcastic question. "This is so much more important, Brady. My hair can wait. At least for a few more minutes." She took a deep breath and then began, "Brady, you HAVE to go to the ball tonight. You just have to. I know that things didn't work out with Sarah, but you can still go by yourself."

He laughed snidely at her voracious exclamation. "Belle, I don't want to go. I haven't gone in a long time. Why should I go now?"

Belle walked up to Brady and put her hand consolingly on his bicep. She knew that what she was about to say was going to hurt him, but she needed to do it. "Brady, tonight's ball is different from the other two. You really need to be there."

Brady raised his eyebrow at her, prompting her without words to continue her explanation. He wondered curiously where this was leading. Belle had always tried (and failed) to get him to return to the ball, but she seemed extremely determined tonight that he attend it. He waited for her response, placing his hands in his pockets.

Belle took another deep breath, as she admitted, "Brady, this is going to hurt you, but it needs to be said. Chloe is going, along with Shawn's mother and Princess Greta. You need to be there to show Chloe that her presence did not keep you away. If you miss the ball, she's going to think that you didn't go because of her."

Brady arched his eyebrow at his sister, a maneuver he had acquired from their father. He wouldn't admit it, but Chloe Lane was the reason why he had never attended another ball. He preferred to prevent that little stroll down memory lane.

Belle continued when Brady didn't verbally respond to her words. "You see, Chloe's going to think that she still has a hold on you, if you don't go. If you do attend the ball, and act unconcerned about her presence, then she will know that her hold over you is completely broken. You've got to go, Brady, really." Belle pulled out her next trick, and turned her big puppy dog eyes on him.

Shawn grinned at Belle's tactics, loving how she was wrapping big, bad, Brady Black around her finger. "Uh oh," he announced to Brady, failing to hide his enjoyment at watching his fiancée go to work on her brother, "she's pulled out the big guns, Brady. I don't know anyone who has ever been able to resist those puppy dog eyes of hers."

Brady didn't, either. "You're going to make my life a living hell if I don't go, aren't you?" he asked Belle. Besides, Belle was offering an excuse to attend the ball, something he secretly wanted to do.

Belle couldn't prevent the large grin from splitting her face as she agreed with him. She could smell the scent of victory. "You won't get a moment's peace of mind if you stay home tonight. I will hound you day and night. All the dirty tricks I can think of, such as giving your number out to telemarketers." She could tell that Brady was about to cave in to her request.

"Well, we can't have that, can we?" He couldn't believe that he was about to comply with Belle's request. Brady sighed deeply, another ploy he learned from his father, and said, "I guess I'd better go and see if my tuxedo still fits."

Belle jumped up and down, clapping her hands in glee. She kissed Brady on both cheeks, delighted that he was going to come to the ball tonight. "Oh, that's wonderful, Brady! You have just, like, made my night!" She then turned to Shawn, a look of concern appearing suddenly on her face, "Shawn! We've got to go, now! Now that our mission is accomplished, I need to get ready! Like, yesterday!" Belle grabbed Shawn's hand and dragged him to the door, barely giving him a chance to say good-bye to Brady.

Brady shook his head at his sister's antics. He knew that he had given in really easily to Belle, and it was NOT because of her puppy dog eyes. He could hardly admit it to himself, but he knew that the real reason he was going to the annual Christmas Ball was to see Chloe Lane again.

"That was really easy," Shawn commented to Belle as they entered the elevator. "I thought we would have to hog-tie Brady and forcefully drag him, kicking and screaming, to the ball."

Belle glanced at Shawn, allowing him to see the worry and concern in her eyes. "I knew it would be easy. He wants to go to the ball; he just needed a solid excuse. That excuse, of course, is my prodding. He wants to go because Chloe will be there. As much as she hurt him three years ago, he's still in love with her." She sighed as she continued, "And that is the pity of it."

Shawn nodded in agreement after Belle pointed out the real reason Brady had agreed so effortlessly to attend the ball. "I see that now. What a shame. Man, they will never get back together, unless Chloe can come up with a good reason for leaving. Do you think she has one?"

Belle tilted her head as she admitted, "Well, Dad and I don't think so. I mean, she hurt Brady so much when she rejected his love and support. We can't even begin to fathom why she would do that. Brady didn't care that her father was Stefano DiMera." Then, she chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully, before adding thoughtfully to Shawn, "But my mother really thinks Chloe has a very good reason for deserting Brady and leaving Salem so quickly. Why, I don't know. She says that she can read a lot of hidden pain in Chloe."

"Well, your mom is a shrink," Shawn commented, hoping Marlena was right. Brady deserved happiness in his life. "And a damn good one."

Belle shook off her concern as she threw her arms around Shawn, pulling him closely to her. "It definitely has the making for an intriguing evening. I'll be here, you know, if you need any support. Your mom's going to be at Tuscany tonight, too."

Shawn held the love of his life to him tightly, rejoicing in her unconditional support. "You always are, Belle. Let's see what tonight brings."


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-One**

Tuscany was crowded with eager partygoers for the annual Christmas Ball. Everyone who is anyone in Salem was in attendance, plus a horde of extras. The restaurant had once again been turned into a beautiful ballroom. The color scheme this year was blue and silver, which could be found everywhere. Large silver snowflakes hung from the ceiling, while Christmas trees were decorated with blue garland and glittery ornaments. Music poured out from an orchestra that was set up in the corner, allowing the guests to dance or mingle to their hearts' content. It was truly a festive atmosphere.

Stefano calmly sipped from his glass of champagne, enjoying the curious looks coming his way from the crowd. He loved the fact that people were always nervous around him. In fact, Stefano thrived on it. "Look at this," he said to Lexi. "Salem's finest, all in one place at one time."

Lexi laughed sarcastically at her father's description. "Right. Salem's finest. What hypocrites. There isn't a handful of people in this room that I even remotely care about anymore. I don't know why you wanted to come tonight, Father, I really don't."

Stefano looked at his daughter, a woman who was as ostracized in Salem as he was. She didn't revel in Salem's reception to them as he did. He loved the wariness people expressed with looks, murmurings, or downright nervousness in his presence. "I have not missed a ball since I returned three years ago. That particular ball holds beautiful memories for me."

Lexi couldn't help but grin with satisfaction in agreement with her father. "Yeah. I really enjoyed how you destroyed any chance of reconciliation for Hope and her family. I couldn't have done it better. You truly are the master of disaster," Lexi quipped in genuine admiration. "And you dedicated that part of your plan to me!"

Stefano waved his hand in the air and completed a short bow in her direction. "I appreciate your praise. I rarely get any positive feedback from anyone in this town. It's relieving to know that my efforts do not go unnoticed."

"Oh, never, Father," Lexi assured him. She glanced quickly at her elegant watch and then frowned. "It's nearly nine o'clock. I thought my lovely sisters and ex-friend would be here by now. Maybe they are doing all of Salem a favor and staying away for the night."

Stefano also frowned. He had also been wondering about the whereabouts of the notorious trio. "It is getting late, but I am certain they are planning on attending. If I know Greta, Chloe, and Hope, then I can say with certainty that they would not miss the ball for the world."

"They do liven things up," Lexi admitted to her father, "even if I despise the lot of them." There was no love lost between her and Hope Brady or her friends. Lexi felt nothing but contempt for them.

Stefano mused thoughtfully to his daughter, "I am surprised that they have yet to put in an appearance. I was looking forward to the drama of their presence. I mean, the stage is set perfectly for continuing heartbreak. All of the major players are here, just waiting for the three of them to enter." He sighed deeply as he continued with his insights, "I do hope they come. I have been anticipating this evening ever since their surprise return."

"I know. The more pain for them, the better." Lexi then felt a hand touch her shoulder and turned around, a look of pure delight crossing her features. "Brandon! I'm so glad you come."

Brandon nodded to Stefano in greeting and then asked Lexi, "I have been wanting to dance with the hottest lady here all evening. Would you do me the honors?"

Lexi, vindictive Lexi, actually blushed, revealing a softer side to herself that only Brandon was aware still existed behind her façade of bitterness. She complied simply by interlocking her hand through his arm, and they entered the dance floor.

Stefano watched his daughter dance with Brandon Walker, pleased with the possibility of a match between them. He knew that Brandon would be a good match for his daughter because he had been the victim of a rough childhood. Brandon would understand completely if Stefano had to "protect" his daughter through unusual means.

Stefano took his eyes off of the dancing couple and surveyed the room around him. John and Marlena were dancing, close together, as they nearly moved as one. "Ah, I have missed sparring with those two," he murmured quietly to himself. "But the pain Chloe has caused their family is definitely worth it. Of course, if Chloe would ever reconsider the deal…" He let his statement trail off as he continued with his insights into Chloe Lane. "She definitely has more courage, foolish courage, then I ever gave her credit for. It's too bad Chloe wouldn't accept my name. I could have made her into a serious force to be reckoned with." Stefano let the regret of losing his daughter slide over him, still pleased with the ultimate outcome of his plan for her. "All things considered, she made a very good pawn, causing so much pain to my enemies."

"There's Bo Brady, conversing with his son and his soon-to-be-daughter-in-law. I hear that Hope has not been invited to the wedding! My, oh, my, what a shock!" Stefano grinned evilly in eager response to his own statement, imagining the hurt that Hope would be feeling about the lack on an invitation. "The pain I have caused Hope Brady will be endless. She will never recover from it. That's what she deserves, for taking baby Isaac away from Lexi. I am pleased with our plans for the ex-Mrs. Bo Brady."

Stefano laughed evilly as he expounded on the subject of Hope Brady. His eyes glinted with pure pleasure. "She has been my best pawn ever. She has caused the most pain among my enemies. Lord, I would love to have her turn back into Princess Gina! What fun that would be!"

Next, he saw Sami and Colin Murphy by the orchestra, obviously having a heated discussion about something. Colin was looking at her with impatience and anger in his eyes. "Colin, I couldn't have designed a better plan of revenge for you! Imagine, being tied to that witch, Sami Brady, for the rest of your life! Hell on earth, Dr. Murphy, hell on earth. I have never seen a more fitting punishment for anyone in my life." A malicious twinkle appeared in his eyes at Colin's frustrated expression with his wife, and expression Stefano believed correctly was on Dr. Murphy's face a lot. "What a pair."

"I knew how you would react, Colin, when I revealed that Greta was my daughter. You feel right into my trap, like everyone does." He grinned malevolently as he continued reminiscing, "Ah, yes. I needed to show Greta that she couldn't hide from being a DiMera. To teach her a lesson, Stefano-style. She definitely learned.

His search led him to Brady Black, who was calmly talking with his grandfather and his surprising step-grandmother, Nicole Walker Kiriakis. "Brady, Brady, Brady," he said gloatingly as he witnessed their conversation, "you were hurt the most by Chloe's supposed rejection. The pain she caused you has been endless. I am so pleased that you will never know the ultimate sacrifice my daughter has committed for you, that she was protecting your family from me. All you will ever know is the pain she has caused you, not that I was the one who orchestrated it!"

Stefano couldn't help the pleased chuckle that escaped him. "I love my life!" he exclaimed as he accepted another glass of champagne from a waiter. "My plans have been so successful for the lovely people of Salem." He held his glass aloft in the air and then announced to himself, "Ain't life grand!" Stefano used his glass to toast himself and what he considered his successes in the air, never expecting the surprising events that would occur later on in the evening.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

Brady offered his farewells to his grandfather and Nicole as he made his way through the crowded dance floor. He wanted a brief respite from the large crowd, and sought a quiet place from the continued noise and expressions of concern. It seemed that everyone wanted to know how he felt about Chloe's unexpected return to Salem, which was a subject he wanted to avoid discussing at all costs. His eyes found exactly what he needed, and Brady continued to move in the direction.

Brady opened the doors to the balcony, pleased with the welcoming rush of the chilly air. He closed the doors behind him, locking out the noise and the people, and looked at the lights of Salem below him. "Why did I come?" he asked himself quietly. It was nearing ten o'clock. With each tick of the clock, the likelihood of Chloe attending the ball was getting dimmer and dimmer. "She's not coming."

It hurt his pride and self-esteem badly to admit it, but Brady had eagerly watched each and every new arrival as they stepped off of the elevator, hoping it was Chloe. Even though his mind denied it, his heart was calling out for the alluring sight of her. "How can she still have this hold on me?" he questioned the night, but, surprisingly, didn't receive an answer.

Brady turned in surprise when the door opened quietly, not expecting someone else to follow him out onto the balcony. "Dad!" he greeted his father, pleased that if someone was going to intrude on his much-needed solitude, it was his father. He wouldn't have wanted anyone else to intrude on his privacy.

"Hey, kid," John answered his son, walking up to Brady and punching him lightly on the shoulders. "I'm glad that you came tonight. Surprised, but glad."

Brady did not want to admit, to anyone, that the real reason he had come tonight was to see Chloe, even if it was only from a distance. She was like a thorn in his skin, painful to leave in, but even more painful to pull out. He had thought he had made progress in getting over her, but her recent arrival in Salem had thrown that belief out the window.

"Belle begged me to come," Brady answered his father evasively, instead of giving him the whole truth. Belle had offered him the perfect excuse to come to the ball. "I knew I was sunk when she turned her famous pleading look on me."

"Ah," John said as he tilted his head back knowingly. He, like Belle, knew the real reason Brady had finally attended the ball, but he wasn't going to pry it out of him. "The famous sad puppy dog eyes. She learned it from her mother, you know. I can't resist it either."

Brady turned his back on his father as he responded, "I've seen Marlena do it, too. Women certainly know how to get what they want from us."

"That's a fact!" John quipped, enjoying the use of his favorite catch phrase. "Well, the real reason why I followed you out here is to discuss the recent situation that has occurred." When Brady only arched his eyebrow at him, John continued, "Chloe's return. How are you handling it?"

Brady stared intently at his father and chuckled lightly at himself. He knew that denying any feelings would be useless with his father. "You always could see right through me, Dad. Even when I denied any feelings or interest in Chloe, years ago. You knew what was going on, even before I would admit it."

Brady's words caused John to recall the scene at The Brady Pub. He remembered kidding Brady about his first "date" with Chloe, even though Brady had sworn up and down that it was NOT a date. "You don't let too many people read you, Brady. But, I know how to see past all of your defenses. I knew, then, that you were absolutely crazy about Chloe Lane, even if you wouldn't disclose that information to anyone. You, well, you were too defensive when I brought her name up. It was easy for me to tell that you had fallen hard for her back then."

Brady reluctantly agreed with his father, realizing that his father would not see his feelings for Chloe as a sign of weakness. He prepared to allow his father to see into part of his soul. "You were so right, Dad. Chloe, the Chloe we knew before all of this shit happened, was so special, so unique. Her spirit was so rare. All I wanted to do was protect her amazing vulnerability and respect her uniqueness, to preserve everything that made Chloe Lane different." He shook his head at his old romantic feelings for Chloe. "Well, I guess Chloe wasn't as vulnerable as I thought. She was able to leave me, without a backward glance, and deal admirably well with her new life."

John was surprised that Brady had opened up so much to him. John could feel his resentment against Chloe start to enlarge as he realized the full extent of the hold she still held over his son. He decided that he would need to discuss certain issues with Chloe Lane, the sooner the better. He placed his arm around Brady's shoulders. "Sometimes things don't work out the way we want them to. I know that is a simple, trite statement."

"It certainly is," Brady said, grateful for his father's unconditional support, as he continued with his surprising admissions. "I thought I was doing so well, that I had managed to put her completely behind me. However, all she had to do was appear in town, and that belief was shot down in a blaze. But, I'm handling it."

After a few seconds of silence, John then brought up another concern to Brady. "Are you?" he questioned Brady, and then stated, "I heard that you had a little run-in on the pier with her one evening."

Brady whipped around quickly from the edge of the balcony and stared intently at his father. "It appears Tink has a very big mouth," he commented dryly, correctly realizing who would have shared this relevant piece of information with his father.

"That she does. But," John defended his daughter strongly, "she has your best interests at heart. We know how much Chloe hurt you. We don't want her to have the power to hurt you like that again."

Brady leaned against the railing as he admitted to his father, "I didn't realize our connection was still so strong, until that night. I had tried to deny it, even managed to almost convince myself that she meant nothing to me anymore. But, then, I saw her on the pier, shocked, hurt, and scared. The past didn't matter, in that moment. All that mattered was her." His shoulders slumped in defeat as he continued with his admissions, "Dammit! I still can't believe that she can affect me this way. Why can she, Dad?"

John's heart ached for his son as Brady looked at him with questioning eyes. He's still so hurt and confused, John thought as he searched for the right words to comfort his son. "I think," John began slowly, "that there was never any final closure with you and Chloe. You were shocked and angry the night you finally met with her after Stefano's revelations. Then, she left the next day, without giving you a chance for a final resolution of your relationship. That could be part of the reason why you have never been able to completely move on with your life."

Brady nodded in outward agreement with his father. "That's very possible. Maybe you should become the shrink in our family," Brady joked slightly, trying to lighten the mood a little.

Brady knew, for certain, that he would never be able to recover from Chloe Lane. She would always own his heart, because she was his one and only soulmate, even though she had rejected him completely. Brady had deluded himself in the three years of her absence, thinking that they were over. Now, after her return, he understood completely that he would always love her; even after all of the pain she had caused him.

John chucked his son underneath his chin, proud of how Brady was rallying. "Marlena's too good at her job. It's finally started wearing off on me. Hey, what do you say we go in there, show Salem how the Blacks can party?" John danced a little jig, causing Brady to suddenly roll with laughter.

"You are such an idiot!" Brady accused his father laughingly, but appreciating his father's attempt to improve his mood. After all, he had used that attempt many times with Chloe in the past. "If you do that in there, Belle and I are going to disown you!"

John grabbed Brady, and draped his arm over his shoulder again, in a solid show of support. "Let's go rock this place," he said, in an extremely lame attempt at being cool.

Brady just shook his head in wonder at his father, and the two of them left the balcony, ready to join the ball. He left his expectations about the evening on the balcony. If Chloe hadn't arrived at the ball by now, she probably wasn't going to.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

Ethan pulled his SUV into the parking garage below Tuscany a little after ten o'clock. Hope, Chloe, and Greta had wanted to arrive fashionably late to the ball. That way, their nerves would have a chance to settle in private before they made their entrance and then began the big finale they had planned for Stefano DiMera.

Ethan turned the vehicle off, waiting for a reaction from the three beautiful ladies occupying it. The vehicle was surprisingly quiet, as the women in it silently contemplated the evening ahead of them. It was finally payback time, and each woman was experiencing serious nervous anticipation. When no one exited the SUV for a full minute after he had stopped it, Ethan started to laugh, hoping he could break through the tension radiating from his charming partners. "Well," he exclaimed to his beautiful companions, "what are the three of you waiting for? It's now or never!"

Greta chuckled nervously as she spoke up for all of them. "I don't know, Ethan. I guess, now that the time is finally here, we're, ah, all experiencing a little stage fright." She chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip as she viewed the faces of her best friends.

Hope nodded at her friend to show Greta that she was right on the money. "Yeah. It's time for us to lay all of our cards on the table, to show DiMera exactly who he is dealing with. There'll be no turning back, once we exit your car."

Chloe broke her contemplative silence and chimed in with, "I know that we have dreamed of this moment for three long years. It's here, and we are a little anxious about the outcome of the evening. I mean, we are going to expose one of the most infamous men in the world! That's, well, that's amazing."

"Yeah," Greta agreed, feeling her butterflies start to settle somewhat as her friends exposed their nervousness to each other. "But, we cannot do that here. What do you say, girls? Are you ready to show Stefano DiMera and all of Salem exactly what we are made of?" She met Hope and Chloe's eyes squarely, excited about the responses she saw in them.

"It's certainly not sugar and spice and everything nice!" Chloe bantered jokingly with her friends, enjoying her play on words with the famous childhood nursery rhyme.

Hope opened her door as she announced with certainty, "Let's do it, ladies! We will make that bastard pay for every horrible deed he has ever committed! Stefano DiMera's fate has definitely been sealed."

Ethan stayed in the car as the women strode with growing confidence to the elevator. Ethan was going to keep a low profile, until the final unveiling of Stefano DiMera's nefarious scheme. He was in charge of alerting the ISA to DiMera's illegal activities at precisely 11:30, giving the ISA plenty of time to confiscate the stolen art treasures from his mansion before the women instigated their grand showdown. Ethan would be back in time to take part in their finale and to witness Stefano DiMera's downfall. "DiMera," he said to himself as he watched the women enter the elevator, "you aren't going to know what hit you!" He smiled in pure pleasure at the thought.

In the Tuscany elevator…

Chloe pushed a stray lock of her back into place as the elevator traveled slowly up to their destination. "We are definitely dressed for success," she noted to her friends, hoping to ease the remaining tension a little bit.

"I know. Hope, it was a brilliant idea to have us dress in dark colors for the ball." Greta admired Chloe's midnight blue floor-length gown, as well as Hope's deep purple dress. Greta was wearing a dark red short dress, showing off her legs to maximum advantage.

Hope smiled slyly in response as she recognized her friends' attempts to ease their anxiety about the upcoming evening. "Power. It's all about power. We need to let everyone in that room tonight know that we are strong, powerful, invincible. Our clothes and our hairstyles are a reflection of that power." All women were wearing their hair up, in order to help foster the illusion of power and attitude they wanted to create.

"Even if our stomachs are knotting up with nerves," Greta followed up Hope's explanation of the plan for their physical appearances. "Never let them see you sweat! God, what a trite but true statement! And, we will definitely need it tonight!"

Chloe turned to her friends as her nerves started to evaporate while their destination became closer and closer. She stated to them slowly as she experienced a slight epiphany, "You know, it feels like we have done this before. It's funny, but I think we've played this scene before. Only we were the unsuspecting victims. And it ended so wrong, so horribly wrong, for all of us. Now, we have the chance to change the ending, once and for all, and make it come out right." A gleam of pure anticipation twinkled brightly in her sapphire eyes. Hope inclined her head slightly to show her agreement with Chloe's view on the situation.

Greta placed her finger on the button to keep the elevator door from opening when they finally reached their destination: the floor for Tuscany. "This seems familiar," she joked, referring to their first night back in Salem, when they had dined at Tuscany and allowed Salem to learn of their arrival. "Anyway, ladies, this is it. We are finally going to prove to that bastard in there that we will not be used like pawns in his demented games."

Hope smiled as her nervous butterflies fluttered away, letting her feel strong and confident. "We will do this. Stefano DiMera is finally going down. And the beautiful irony of it is, he created his own downfall when he destroyed our lives. We are going to get our revenge, tonight, in front of all of Salem."

"Salem is certainly in for a show," Chloe added when Hope expressed her beliefs about the evening. "One I wouldn't want to miss for the world. Let's do it." Chloe reached for Hope's and Greta's hands. Greta kept her one hand on the button, until they were ready to enter the ball. The three women linked their hands together in a show of physical support as they prepared mentally for their final revenge against Stefano DiMera, the person responsible for the destruction of their lives.

"Here we go," Greta exclaimed to her friends as she lifted her finger off of the button. "Let's show them what we are made of!"

The elevator door swished open, revealing the three elegant women inside standing regally inside. They walked nonchalantly off of the elevator, as if they were completely unaware of the extreme tardiness of their arrival. It was already way past ten o'clock, and the ball would end right relatively soon, right after midnight.

Many eyes looked in awe at the fashionably late arrivals, and the breathtaking vision they presented to the guests. The guests watched in admiration and wonder as the women confidently descended the few steps of the entranceway, seemingly unaware of the reaction they were causing among the attendees of the ball.

Chloe felt the jolt of electricity hit her as she made immediate eye contact with Brady Black. He was standing off to the side of the room, with Belle, Shawn, his father, and Marlena. No date in sight, Chloe noted quickly. Her eyes widened a bit at the look of relief he briefly showed her before his features became impassive again. Did he want me to come tonight? she wondered, but then pushed the thought away. Tonight is not about Brady and your feelings for him, she ordered herself. It's about putting DiMera where he belongs. Behind bars. She broke their connection and concentrated solely on what Greta was saying.

"I love creating a sensation!" Greta exclaimed quietly to her friends, bringing Chloe out of her meandering thoughts. Greta's eyes gleamed with excitement. Now that she was actually at the ball, her nerves were fading and anticipation was taking its place. She could tell that Hope and Chloe were feeling the same way.

"Then you are going to love the reaction we cause at midnight tonight, when we reveal our mission to Salem," Hope whispered back. The three women stopped walking and faced each other, calmly ignoring the people observing their every movement. It was time to quietly synchronize their plans.

"All right," Hope took charge of the details of the evening. "We have about an hour and a half to go. I'm going to check with Maggie, make certain that she has the projector ready for us." Hope had asked Maggie for a little help, by providing them with a projector for a special part of the ball. However, she had reiterated strongly to Maggie that the slide projector needed to be a secret. Surprisingly, Maggie had managed to keep the secret.

"Right," Greta agreed as she whispered fervently to her friends. She patted her tiny, sequined purse as she explained, "I have part of our information right here, waiting for us to share it with our audience. And, Ethan will call me, letting me know when the search of the room has been completed. That will be shortly before the midnight dance, when we can start our show."

Chloe grinned slightly as they briefly outlined their plans. "So, for the next ninety minutes or so, we need to mingle, and act totally unconcerned and normal. Not a problem." She couldn't help but laugh sarcastically at her statement. All of them would need to cover up their eagerness, anticipation, and their nervousness about the final stage in their plan, so that no one, especially Stefano DiMera, would become suspicious of their actions.

Hope giggled in response to Chloe's sarcastic wit. Then, she added her own directives to the evening prior to their finale, "We need to stay in constant view of each other, in case something goes wrong with Ethan's part of the plan. Hopefully, the ISA agents he will notify will not leak the information to Stefano. If they do, then our plans are finished."

Chloe shook her head, expressing her disagreement. "That won't happen. It can't happen. We have worked too long and too hard for tonight to be ruined by an ISA leak. I know that has been a concern all along, and the reason why Ethan has been secretly working with us, but…It just can't happen," she ended up reiterating strongly.

"Ethan will do everything he can to prevent it," Greta said reassuringly, positive in Ethan's efforts to complete his part in tonight's extracurricular activities. "Now, let's go mingle, have a good time, and keep a sharp watch for anything unusual." She took a deep breath and then exclaimed, "Break a leg, girls!"


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

Chloe walked away from Greta and Hope after their brief meeting to outline their plans for the evening. The three of them had decided to be separate from each other for most of the evening. That way, they wouldn't bring any unnecessary suspicion onto themselves about their upcoming plans for the evening. Soon, Chloe thought. She couldn't believe that the time had finally come to even things up with DiMera.

Her eyes immediately found Brady again. He had his back to her and was having a discussion with Shawn and Belle. She could see Shawn laugh at something Brady had said, while Belle playfully punched him on the shoulders. Still no sign of that damn blonde chick from that night at The Blue Note, Chloe thought with satisfaction.

She turned her head slightly and then spotted Nancy and Craig off in a secluded corner. Chloe headed toward them, glad to see them in attendance. A man suddenly stepped in front of her, halting her progress towards them. "Excuse me, but I need to have a word with you. Princess." John added the last word scathingly as he stood, watching Chloe for any reaction to his request.

Chloe hid her surprise at the strange request from John Black. She simply inclined her head towards him once and said regally, "As you wish." It was hard, very hard, for Chloe to prevent any strong emotion to show on her face when John Black, a man she personally admired and respected, looked at her with barely concealed displeasure on his face. Of course, he thought she had coldheartedly rejected Brady's love and then blithely traipsed around the social whirl in Europe. Soon he would know how wrong some of him misconceptions were about her.

A small flare of anger at her haughty tone burned in his eyes, but it was carefully extinguished. He laughed harshly as he led Chloe to a more secluded area, a part of the room concealed on three sides by a large Christmas tree. "I am so grateful that you would give me some of your precious time." John's voice dripped with sarcasm, hoping to get a response from her.

Chloe stared at him intently, revealing no emotions as she responded nonchalantly, "Well? What would you like to discuss with me?" Inwardly, she was almost grateful for this distraction. At the very least, I won't be completely focused on our plans for DiMera at the stroke of midnight now, she thought.

John tilted his head back as he realized that he wasn't getting to her. His lips pulled up slightly at the corners. Yet. "All right, I see how it is," he said to her. "Well, princess, I do have something very pressing I would like to discuss with you."

Chloe prompted him with a "Yes?" after he stopped dramatically, waiting for her response. She raised her eyebrows slightly, urging John to continue.

"This meeting is long overdue, actually," John began seriously, holding his gaze level with Chloe's. He was still unable to read any expression on her face. Is she really this cold, this disinterested? he wondered. She wasn't always.

Chloe responded to John's statement with a feigned look of surprise on her face and in her voice. "I wasn't aware that we had anything to discuss."

John allowed a scowl to cross his face, as only John Black can do, after Chloe's response to him. "You are cold," he noted to her, answering his earlier question. "We have a lot to discuss. About Brady. Surprise, surprise," John quipped again. "And what I want you to do about him."

Regret and sorrow, two strong, powerful emotions, flashed briefly in Chloe's eyes at the mention of Brady's name. They winked out quickly, before John could define the look Chloe had fleetingly displayed. Maybe I imagined it, he thought, as he studied her features more closely.

Chloe felt intrigued because she wasn't certain where John was going with this. The only contact she had had with John Black had been very limited. People had always been around them, so this was the most privacy they had shared. It seemed like John really had something to impress upon her. "What do you mean?" she couldn't resist asking when John continued to remain silent.

John lifted his hand, pointing briefly at Chloe as he began his concerns about her return to Salem and the effect it could possibly have on his son. "When you and Brady started getting closer that summer when Belle was in Puerto Rico, I warned him about getting involved with you. I had my reservations about your compatibility with my son. You seemed cold, without emotions." John paused briefly in his dialog. He held up his hand, cutting off Chloe's interruption before it could occur.

"I have a point here, princess. Let me continue." John stopped to regroup his thoughts, and then moved on with his summation of Brady and Chloe's relationship. "You overcame my reservations quickly, Chloe, when I saw how happy being with you made my son. Happiness is something he has not experienced that much in his life. So, I altered my perceptions, grateful for the change in Brady that you had caused. I lost my concern over the power you wielded over him, and concentrated on the positive influence you brought into Brady's life."

John heaved a sad sigh as he recounted the last, devastating part of their relationship. "Then, everything changed. You proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that my first impressions of you were accurate and true. You really are cold and emotionless. You hurt Brady, more than I ever thought anyone could, when you rejected him that night on the pier."

Chloe worked hard to keep her features still, as she listened to John's summation. Every word felt like a rusty knife to her heart. She pulled herself together with a Herculean effort, overcame her own pain at John's words, and then stated, "That is all in the past now. We both have moved on with our lives, and are content with the way things are." That was a blatant lie on her part, but she could not admit it now.

John smirked cynically after Chloe finished her response. "That's, ah, quite funny, Chloe. Moved on," he repeated as he laughed slightly and unbelievably at her choice of words. "I guess that's why you were at Brady's apartment the other day."

"I was there through an accident," Chloe insisted strongly to John. "I didn't voluntarily visit Brady, or seek him out at his apartment. He brought me there, to calm me down after what happened on the pier."

John responded to Chloe's defense by nodding his head in disbelief. "Of course. I heard, through Belle, about the unfortunate incident on the pier. We are glad that you weren't seriously hurt."

"Thank you," Chloe responded before she prompted him to carry on with their conversation. "But I am certain that is not all you have to say to me. Please continue, Mr. Black." She remembered when he had invited her to call him "John." But that felt like a lifetime ago, when her world had been secure.

"You are absolutely correct," John answered Chloe, not using his famous catch phrase for once. "There is still more I would like to add to our discussion. For instance, after Brady brought you back to his apartment, there was another little "incident" that occurred there. Do you know what I am referring to?" he questioned her.

Chloe felt a blush start from her forehead and travel all the way down to the tips of her toes as John Black stared at her knowingly. "I think I know what you are referring to," she finally managed to admit to him.

John signaled his agreement with her by holding up his hands. "Right. The kiss. Chloe, a few minutes ago, you insisted that both you and Brady had moved on with your lives. That's quite a contradiction in light of the kiss you shared with my son. I find that hard to believe, after I heard about your kiss."

Chloe defended herself strongly as she said, "Mr. Black, that kiss took both of us by surprise. Neither of us planned it or instigated it. It was a fluke, a total mistake, and it will not happen again."

John searched her face for the veracity of her statement, but he still couldn't read her emotions. "You sound adamant about this. But, I want you to know, that I won't stand by and let you play games with Brady's feelings again. Once was more than enough. If you were planning on using your "unfortunate incident" as a springboard to become a major part of his life again, you can just forget about it right now."

Chloe narrowed her eyes at John, allowing her anger at his jabs to finally come through. "That is not my intention," she insisted, inwardly enraged that he would even consider her actions in this light. She was not manipulative, and would never force Brady to let her back into his life because he felt sorry for her.

"Keep it that way," John retorted strongly. "Stay away from my son." He looked with serious intent at Chloe, making her see the seriousness of his request.

Chloe was about to respond when a new person entered their discussion. "Hello, Chloe," Marlena greeted her, giving John a severely disappointed look. She had overheard the last part of their conversation, and was not pleased with how John had treated Chloe.

"Dr. Evans," Chloe answered, a little uncertainly. Dr. Evans was smiling warmly at her, something she wasn't used to receiving from any member of the Black family.

"It's good to see you here tonight," Marlena continued, stepping lightly on her husband's foot when he was about to disagree. "And it's very therapeutic, for all three of you. I hope you enjoy the ball."

Chloe gifted Marlena with a bright, confident smile that touched her eyes as well. "You have no idea exactly how therapeutic and healing tonight is going to be." Chloe then nodded at both of them in farewell. "I'm certain I'll see you both again this evening."

John waited until Chloe was beside him, and then reminded her coolly. "Remember what I said, princess." Chloe granted him a slight look and continued on her way.

Marlena grabbed John's arm and pulled him around quickly, so he was facing her. "What were you doing?" she asked, not being able to comprehend John's uncaring treatment of Chloe. "Can't you see that poor girl has gone through as much pain and trauma as Brady, maybe even more?"

John gazed skeptically at his wife. From his viewpoint, Chloe was the cause of all of the pain and heartbreak Brady had experienced. He had merely wanted to protect his son from any more hurt at the hands of Chloe Lane. "Where did you get that crazy idea?" he asked her.

Marlena rolled her eyes at John dramatically. "Oh, John! You are too deeply involved to see Chloe's emotions. All you can see and understand is Brady's pain at Chloe's supposed rejection. Something made her desert Brady, John, I am sure of it."

A fleeting memory crossed his mind as he thought he had seen a look of sorrow flash in Chloe's eyes earlier. Could Doc be right? He wondered, searching for Chloe in the room. He found her quickly, dancing with Craig Wesley. "Well," he finally responded to Marlena, "we will never know. She doesn't have any intentions of seeking Brady out, or trying to start over again." He pulled Marlena to him, hugging her tightly. "I don't want Brady to feel anymore pain over Chloe Lane."

Marlena nodded slightly, understanding John's viewpoint completely about the situation, but still feeling sorry for Chloe. Her heart went out to Chloe Lane and hoped that everything would eventually turn out the way it should for her.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

Hope headed off towards a quiet corner in Tuscany, hoping to escape the watching eyes for a few minutes. It was getting harder to keep her composure when people continued to follow her every movement. "That's what you get when you're notorious," she whispered to herself when she finally reached her destination. "Complete and undivided attention."

Belle followed Hope, grateful when she stopped by a quiet, secluded corner. As she headed towards her, Belle thought, Good. Now I'll have a chance to talk to Mrs. Brady, without Shawn seeing us. Belle walked up to Hope and greeted her warmly, "Mrs. Brady! It's so good to see you here. I was beginning to think you weren't coming tonight."

Hope responded to Belle's warm greeting with a look of genuine surprise. "I am, well, I am shocked that you feel that way. I thought that my presence was the last thing you would want here, at the ball."

Belle's mouth dropped open, stunned at Mrs. Brady's response to her greeting. "That is sooo far from the truth," Belle insisted strongly. "I am absolutely ecstatic that you have returned to Salem, and I hope you will stay here."

Hope titled her head to one side as she questioned Belle, "Why is that, Belle?" She really hadn't expected her soon-to-be-daughter-in-law to act so warmly towards her. Her reaction was a very pleasant surprise.

"You see," Belle began her explanation by pointing her finger at Hope, "your continued presence here, in Salem, is going to force Shawn to think of you. He can't force you to hide in a corner of his mind, like he did when you were in Europe. You are here, in the flesh, and he can't deny it. Eventually, Shawn will realize exactly how important you are in his life, and he will come around. He'll be able to look at everything from your point of view."

"Oh, I pray for that day!" Hope whispered fervently, hoping that Belle's prophecy would one day come true. "I cannot foresee Bo ever forgiving me or understanding my actions. However, I am still holding out for Shawn's forgiveness."

Belle tapped Hope lightly on the arm in comfort. "Don't worry about it, Mrs. Brady. I'll make certain it happens."

Hope shared a grateful smile with the younger woman, touched by Belle's concern for her relationship with Shawn. "On to a happier subject, I want to offer my congratulations! I am so pleased that you will be entering the family, and I am ecstatic that you will be marrying my son."

Belle couldn't resist the pull to allow Hope to share in her blissful happiness. She hugged Hope hard in response to Hope's pleasant words. "I am soo happy you feel that way, Mrs. Brady! I love Shawn soo much, and I am going to make him the happiest guy on earth. No, make that the universe!"

Hope touched her forehead lightly to Belle's as she laughed at Belle's quip, pleased that her son would be marrying such a warm, caring, compassionate woman. "I wish you and Shawn the best of everything there is in this world. You two deserve all of the happiness you can get! And, even though I won't be at your wedding, know that my spirit will be there, celebrating your new union."

Belle felt an uncomfortable flush cover her face at Hope's words. That was one battle she had lost. Shawn was adamant about not having his mother at their wedding. And, since the wedding was three days away, Belle, who was normally optimistic, didn't believe Shawn would relent anytime soon. It was entirely likely that Hope would miss their wedding. "I know that, Mrs. Brady, just as I know Shawn will regret his decision about the wedding, one day down the road." She quickly changed the subject and inquired, "Are you really going to stay in Salem?"

Hope respected Belle's swift change of conversation, recognizing Belle's embarrassment. There weren't too many sons who made it a point NOT to invite their mothers to their wedding. "That's the plan. Greta, Chloe, and I want to expand our production. Salem seemed like the logical location. Here, your father and your family will get to spend a lot more time with J.T. You will all be able to establish a bond with him. That has been one of my main regrets about leaving Salem three years ago."

The optimistic smile that normally graced Belle's face reappeared. She clapped her hands together excitedly and exclaimed, "Oh, that's wonderful! Shawn and I will get to spend a lot of time with J.T.! And, Shawn will get to see you a lot more. The more Shawn sees you, the greater the odds are for a reconciliation between you."

The smile slid off of Belle's face as she glanced over Hope's shoulder and finally noticed the scene being played out across the room. "Look at that," she murmured involuntarily. "Dad is finally having his talk with Chloe."

Hope cocked her head in confusion, and then followed Belle's gaze. Sure enough, John was discussing something that appeared to be very intense with Chloe. After living with her for three years, Hope knew Chloe well, and realized that Chloe was working very hard to keep her expression impassive and remote. Just what Chloe needs tonight, she thought as she questioned Belle, "Talk?"

Belle nodded slightly as she started to expand on her murmurings to Hope, forgetting that Hope had an extremely close relationship with Chloe. "Yeah. He's, like, warning her not to play any more games with Brady. To leave him alone and let him get on with his life. She hurt him, Mrs. Brady. A lot."

Hope looked in concern at Belle Black. She had the benefit of knowing Chloe's and Brady's full story, and she wished she could share it right now with Belle. Of course, she decided, Chloe will be able to explain everything to Brady and all of the Blacks once we take down DiMera. He will no longer be able to hold the threat of dangerous consequences to the Black family over her head. She will be free to tell them all.

Hope paused, slowly planning the correct words to say to Belle. "Belle, don't judge Chloe too harshly," Hope suggested carefully. "There is a lot going on with her that you aren't aware of. I know, because I have lived with her for a long time. She's been hurt too, even worse than your brother."

Belle opened her mouth, about to question Hope further on this intriguing option, when Shawn interrupted their discussion as he joined the ladies. "What are you doing here?" he asked his mother impatiently, with an unwelcome scowl painted vividly across his face.

Hope rolled her eyes at his rude greeting. "I really taught him better manners," she insisted to Belle, who smiled at Hope. Hope offered a small explanation to her son. "I was just talking with your fiancée, Shawn. That's all. I haven't contaminated her or anything."

Hope then turned, facing Belle completely, and putting her back to Shawn. She was not going to acknowledge his presence when he was behaving so rudely. "Thank you so much, Belle, for everything tonight. I really appreciated all of your insights."

Belle also ignored the thunderous expression on Shawn's face. She willingly embraced his mother in front of him. "You are quite welcome!" Belle sang out happily as she gave Hope an extra squeeze. "I'll work on him, day and night," Belle whispered quietly in her ear, so Shawn couldn't hear her.

Hope smiled at Belle, extremely grateful to have her on her side. "I'll see you later, Belle." She then turned and faced both of them. "I hope you both have a wonderful time tonight. I know I will." Hope then departed from their group, without a backward glance. She knew that Belle was right. Shawn would have to come to her, and continuously seeing her was the best possible catalyst for that future event.

Shawn looked at Belle, with confusion marking his face clearly. "What was that all about? And when did you become such good friends with my mother?" he asked her.

Belle hummed lightly, weighing the best possible answer. Her new mission in life was to reunite the love of her life with his mother. "Just a little girl talk," she finally answered. Belle watched as Shawn watched his mother walk further away from them, with a look of unconcealed longing on his face. He misses her! It won't be long now, she thought, before their relationship begins healing.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

The next hour flew by quickly, as Chloe, Greta, and Hope continued to mingle with the guest and stayed away from Stefano DiMera and Lexi. They did not want to give away their surprise for the evening. They each anxiously awaited midnight, when it would be time for them to put the final stage of their plan into motion. Chloe concentrated on avoiding Brady Black. He was still so in tuned to her feelings; she knew that he would be able to correctly read her nervous anticipation.

Greta was returning form the restroom when she finally received the good news. She jumped slightly when her cell phone rang, a little bit startled by the happy chirp. "Hello?" she answered it questioningly, praying it was Ethan with great news. The hesitant smile on her face bloomed as he relayed the past few minutes to her. "All right!" she finally exclaimed, doing a little happy dance. "I'll get Hope and Chloe, and we'll get ready for the last part!" She hung up quickly, and then searched the crowd. When she found Chloe and Hope, at opposite ends of the room, she quickly motioned them over to her.

Chloe and Hope hurried over to Greta, who met them in the secluded corner where John and Chloe recently had their meeting. "Ethan just called," Greta started saying immediately, keeping her voice low. "He is in the parking garage, getting ready to come up. He reported that the ISA has successfully confiscated all of the stolen art in Stefano's hidden room. That part of the mission has been complete."

"All systems go," Hope correctly interpreted, a smile of excitement blooming across her face. "Now it's our turn, girls."

Chloe felt a chill of anticipation run through her body, causing her to shiver. It was finally time for them to have their revenge. "How did Ethan's superiors take the news of his secret mission?" she inquired, attempting to get her mind off of the next few minutes.

"All right," Greta answered, while she shook her head slightly. "He's going to have to meet with them later tonight, after everything has gone down. They even agreed to send agents to the ball, for added security."

"We still get to run the show, right?" Hope asked in legitimate concern. She had dealt with the ISA in the past, and knew how much the ISA liked to take over a case. Over my dead body, she thought, waiting for Greta's response. DiMera is ours!

Greta chewed on her bottom lip and then admitted to her friends. "Actually, Ethan didn't share that part of the plan with them. If he had, the ISA would be here now, preventing us from taking our rightful part in it. He's probably going to be in serious trouble for it, but he will make certain that none of the agents interrupt us tonight. It's still our show, girls."

Chloe heaved a sigh of relief as she looked at her partners. "Ethan is so wonderful!" she exclaimed. "How will we know when to start our part?"

Greta answered readily while she tucked a loose stray of her hair behind her ear. "Well, Ethan is on his way as we speak. We should get into our positions now, and wait for his signal. He'll make certain the other agents are kept occupied elsewhere, until we have started unmasking Stefano DiMera for the monster he really is." Then, Greta's eyes grew wide as she remembered, "Oh, you need to know the signal! This is it." And she whispered the signal quietly to them. "That will get everyone's attention!" Greta insisted.

Hope reached inside her purse, and pulled out a remote control. She handed it to Chloe, who smiled in recognition and placed it in her purse. She had wanted to be the one in charge of the slide projector, in a flash of ironic humor. It had been a slide projector that had projected her naked images onto a screen all those years ago at the Last Blast Dance.

After Chloe had placed the small remote in her purse, Hope reached for both Greta's and Chloe's hands. They formed a solid circle, unbreakable and invincible. She squeezed their hands, offering them her physical support. "This is it. The moment we have been anticipating for three long years."

Chloe breathed in deeply and exhaled loudly, hoping her nerves would leave her body with the breath of air. Of course, they didn't. "We can know that, an hour from, Stefano DiMera is going to get exactly what he deserves! Good luck, girls."

"No luck is needed," Hope insisted confidently. She pulled the other two in for a reinforcing embrace. "Tonight is our night," Hope whispered into their ears. "We are going to show that bastard how strong we really are. Let's get into positions." Hope broke their physical connection, and each woman headed off in a separate direction, preparing to wait for the forthcoming signal.

From across the room…

While the trio was meeting, Brady looked on with concern. "They seem to be involved in a very intense conversation," he noted aloud, not expecting his father to answer.

"Who is?" John asked, as he joined Brady by the far end of the dance floor. Marlena was with John and she also looked at Brady in concern. Bo, Shawn, and Belle also joined the group as Brady started to explain.

"What's going on?" Belle asked worriedly, when she noticed the interested looks on Brady's and her father's faces.

"I don't know yet. Brady was about to tell me when everyone came to join us." All eyes turned to Brady as John repeated, "Who is having this intense discussion?"

Brady didn't like to be put on the spot, but he answered anyway. "Look, over there, by the far corner." All eyes turned to see the sight that had caught Brady's recent attention.

"Hmmm, that's very interesting," John said, stroking his chin, perplexed by the power meeting the women seemed to be having. "I wonder what the three of them are up to."

Bo watched also, and witnessed Hope handing a small object to Chloe, who then placed it in her purse. "I wonder what Hope just gave Chloe. It looked like some type of an electronic device, but I couldn't see it too clearly from here."

"I agree with you, Dad," Shawn answered, also mesmerized by the intense meeting occurring before their eyes. Even though the ladies were a large dance floor away from them, determination and excitement could be clearly read in their faces and in their body language.

Then, they saw Hope take one of Greta's and Chloe's hands in her own, and have another profound discussion with them. "This is very interesting," Marlena mused as she interpreted their meeting. "It looks like they are giving each other support, as if something monumental has occurred to them or is about to occur."

"I don't know about that," John disagreed. "I doubt…" He stopped when they witnessed the group hug, blowing his theory out of the water. "Well, I'll be damned!" he whistled softly. "Doc, I do believe you are right. Now, that leads us back to our first question, what is happening?"

They watched the women disband and head off in separate directions. The women quickly disappeared from sight, before anyone could seek them out and question them about what they had just seen. After the women disappeared from sight, the witnessing group looked at each other, with perplexing looks on their faces. None of them could correctly interpret the meeting.

Behind a large Christmas tree on the far side of the dance floor…

Chloe breathed in deeply as she reached her destination. She could feel the excitement coursing through her as she waited impatiently for Ethan's signal that all was ready. She took the remote out of her purse and held it out of sight, anticipating the next few minutes. Then, she glanced quickly at her watch, knowing with certainty that Hope and Greta were doing the exact same thing. Only one minute to midnight, she thought in serious expectation. "Only one minute. That son of a bitch doesn't know what's going to hit him!" she whispered softly to herself, smiling in grim satisfaction.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter Twenty-Seven**

The musicians began to warm up, warning the guests that the midnight dance, the last dance of the ball, was about to commence. Couples formed and walked slowly to the dance floor, where they waited patiently for the music to begin. Chloe inhaled deeply, trying to calm her nerves, as she watched the second hand on her watch count down the seconds until midnight. She mentally counted down the time in her mind, visualizing the scene about to take place. "Five, four, three, two, one!" She whispered, certain that Hope and Greta were also doing it.

At the count of one, the lights went off, totally cloaking the room in complete darkness. Shocked gasps and a loud call of "what the hell" from Roman Brady were shared among the guests. People looked in confusion at the people next to them, wondering what on earth was going on.

"John!" Marlena called out, feeling relief when his arms wrapped themselves around her. "What happened to the lights?"

"I don't know," he answered her. He looked in the immediate vicinity, and was able to make out the faces of Belle, Shawn, Brady, and Bo next to them in the sudden gloom. Then, he remembered the recent meeting they had witnessed at the far corner of the room. "I wonder..," he mused lightly, holding Marlena closer.

Chloe left her position and started proceeding slowly to the dance floor, knowing that she would meet up with Greta and Hope soon. A smile of triumph and elation slowly bloomed across her face as she anticipated the next few moments.

Suddenly, a single ray of light shot through the crowd, lighting up the surprised faces of the guests for a single second. People followed the beam as it appeared to be searching for one particular person. The light stopped quickly when it had illuminated Stefano DiMera, singling him out from the crowd. Stefano was located in the center of the dance floor, gazing around him in dramatic surprise. The crowd hastily stepped back from the dance floor, moving to the outskirts, as they wondered what the hell was happening and placed distance between themselves and Stefano DiMera.

Stefano grimaced as the light continued to focus solely on him. "Maggie Horton," he called out, his wrath barely contained, "I think you need to fix your lighting system. Now." He attempted to move out of the beam, but it followed him. Stefano stopped moving, realizing that the light would only continue to tail him.

Three smaller, less brilliant beams of light suddenly appeared in the room. Two beams of light followed a progression from each side of the room, while another beam reflected the steps of someone coming down the center of the room. The beam of lights were heading toward the center of the dance floor. The guests gasped in awe and fascinated excitement as they recognized the women who were slowly approaching the dance floor.

"Oh my god!" Bo whispered, slowly drawing out each word as he, and the rest of the guests, finally realized who was being highlighted. He pointed to each woman as he announced to the group around him, "That's Hope, coming down from the center. Chloe is coming in from the side opposite us." He turned, and watched as Greta slowly appeared, coming closer to them on her path to the dance floor. "And there's Greta. She'll be coming past us any second."

Brady's eyes found and focused completely on Chloe. He interpreted her expression, anxiously trying to figure out what was going on. For once, Chloe's emotions were completely noticeable. He raised his eyebrows when he realized that excitement, anticipation, and triumph were reflected vividly on her face. "What the hell," he murmured quietly, borrowing Roman Brady's famous phrase.

Greta continued towards her destination, moving slowly and confidently. When Greta passed the Black/Brady group close at hand, John put a detaining hand on her. She stopped but said, "Let me go, John. Hope and Chloe really need me for this."

"What's going on?" he questioned her, before he would comply with her request. The others around John witnessed the exchange eagerly and with extreme interest, hoping that Greta would be able to give them an insight into what was going on right now.

Greta met John's gaze triumphantly, allowing him to see the excitement in her eyes. "Trust me, you are going to love it. Watch and see." She carefully pried John's hand off of her forearm and continued her purposeful march towards the dance floor.

When the three women stood at the edge of the nearly deserted dance floor, they stopped completely and eyed their target, the lone person left on the floor. The only lights in Tuscany came from the four beams that followed their every movement.

The crowd of Tuscany were talking excitedly among themselves, eagerly watching the unfolding drama before their eyes. "This is better than a movie!" one person announced loudly, before her companion told her to be quiet so that they wouldn't miss anything.

Total confidence permeated from the women as they continued to watch Stefano. They each stood tall, regally, gazing at Stefano with certain victory reflected in their eyes. Hope announced calmly to the surprised partygoers. "We are so sorry to interrupt your evening, folks, but I think you will find the next few minutes vastly entertaining." She placed her hands on her hips as she focused her attention on Stefano DiMera.

Stefano hissed angrily at Hope and her companions. "What do you think you are doing?" He used his hands to encompass all three of the women. "This is a farce! You should all know by now who, exactly, you are dealing with."

"Winning the game," Chloe confidently answered DiMera's question, causing a renewed murmur to go through the crowd as they continued to view the scene with growing fascination.

Hope began her explanation to Stefano, completely calm and composed, as if she wasn't the focus of every pair of eyes in the room right now. "Three years ago," she began explaining to him, pacing slightly in front of him. Her beam of light continued to follow her movements, illuminating her to the crowd. "You returned to Salem and proceeded to casually blow our worlds apart." She opened her arms to include Greta and Chloe in her recitation. She looked over at Chloe and smiled, allowing the love she felt for that amazing woman to be revealed on her face to their fascinated audience. "Chloe, my good friend and business partner, is a firm believer in symmetry. She insisted that tonight be the night, the night when we return the favor. Tonight, we are going to destroy you, Stefano."

"NO!" Lexi shouted, as she hurried over to her father from her position by Brandon Walker's side. She would not let these women harass her father, in public or in private. "I want the three of you to get the hell out of here! NOW!"

"I don't think so," Hope replied coolly to her former friend, a slight superior smile touching her lips. "But I am glad that you decided to join us. We have a little something for you, too, but that will come later in our program."

Lexi continued to glare daggers at Hope as Hope nonchalantly continued with her recitation. She turned her back on the DiMera's and faced her audience for the next part of her lecture. "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, the three of us left Salem three years ago, with one clear goal in our lives. We made a pact, an agreement, to do whatever we could do bring Stefano DiMera to justice. Tonight, you will all witness his downfall."

Hope whirled back around and continued aiming her words at Stefano and Lexi, who were watching her with varying degrees of shock and anger. "You really should be flattered, to have caused such a huge impact on all of our lives. Anyway, everything we have done in the past three years has been a step, another hurdle we have jumped, in order to reach our ultimate goal. Tonight, we have everything ready, to bring you down."

Stefano laughed snidely as he played to the audience, hiding his sudden concern. What could they have on me? he wondered, as he says to Lexi, "Let's get out of here. I am finding this entire debacle revolting and insulting."

As they were preparing to leave, Hope called out sharply, relishing her part in their plan. "Not so fast, DiMera. I believe my good friend Chloe has something she would like all of us to see."

Stefano stopped, not because he really wanted to see what was going on, but because that damn beam of light followed him, not allowing him to escape. Where the hell was it coming from? he wondered. "Fine, fine, fine," he said impatiently as he turned to his youngest daughter. "What do you have to share with us?"

Chloe smiled happily as her father gave her his undivided attention. She was very excited about her part in the plan. Without an introduction, she lifted the remote control and pressed a button. Immediately, an image projected itself onto the wall directly behind DiMera and Lexi. "This is a painting by Monet. Very beautiful and absolutely priceless. And so tragically stolen, two years ago, from the Count de Leon's residence in Milan." Chloe pressed the button for the next slide, showing the picture of a man as he stole the painting. His features were clearly visible on the slide. "Such a shame! The authorities in Europe could not discover the person behind the theft. But, I must admit, we have known all along." She allowed the next slide to come up, showing the thief handing the painting over to none-other-than Stefano DiMera. He gave the thief a large envelope, presumably holding cash.

"A picture is truly worth a thousand words," Chloe announced to the room as she used her arms to encompass the whole audience, who gasped at the revealing slides. "I don't think I need to narrate the rest of the slides." Chloe clicked through similar scenes as she explained to the room at large while gazing at her father, "We have tracked and recorded every move you have made, Stefano. And have all the evidence to prove to the world that you have orchestrated an extremely large and profitable art theft organization."

The slides stopped clicking by, and focused on the faces of a couple in the process of accepting money from Stefano. "I believe you know this couple very well," she added in an exaggerated stage whisper to DiMera before she continued, "In fact, these are two of your most prominent thieves. They are currently in the hands of the ISA, more than willing to cut deal. Even more evidence, Stefano, and we all know the ISA will gladly take all the evidence it can get."

Chloe paused, noting the total quiet in the crowded room. Shock at the cunningness and audacity of the three women had brought the room to a complete standstill. "But, that's not all we have for you. A few minutes ago, the ISA conducted a special tour of your house. You know, that secret room of yours? Holds all of the stolen art? Completely confiscated, and in the long arms of the ISA." Chloe grinned in triumphant at the shocked look on her father's face that he could no longer hide.

Greta broke into the silence as Chloe ended her part in the evening's events and called attention to herself. "Don't feel left out, Lexi," Greta announced as she pulled a tape recorder out of her purse with a flourish. "You are really going to like this."

After Greta pressed play, Lexi's voice rang out across the silent and stunned room, clearer than a bell. Lexi's face turned ashen as she recognized the conversation that was being played for the entire room.

 _Lexi: "Father! Oh, there you are! Come into the living room."_

 _Stefano: "You seem very…agitated, Alexandra."_

 _Lexi: "You will never believe what I saw today in the park. Isaac, my Isaac!"_

 _Stefano: "Lexi, dear, that must have been very painful."_

 _Lexi: "Tell me about it." There was the sound of her hand slapping an object of wood very hard. "God, I wish that the baby switch had never been revealed! I took such precautions when I switched them! I was so careful. I thought you had everything covered, Father, and that no one would ever know about the baby switch."_

 _Stefano: "Lexi, Lexi, we did the best we could. Rolf even killed Marlo, so she wouldn't be able to tell her part in the plan. Neither of us factored in the likelihood of Glen and Barb coming to Salem and insisting on a DNA test. So tragic…"_

Greta pressed stop as she called out to Lexi, "Imagine that! You really were aware of the baby switch and had knowledge of poor Marlo's murder! Shame on you, Lexi, and such a shock." Greta shook her finger playfully at Lexi, pleased to see the other woman squirming in her silver stilettos.

"Remember the other day, Stefano, when Chloe came to visit you? She planted the bug that day, ironically under your beloved chessboard. We were only hoping for knowledge of your schedule, so we could arrange a search for your secret room. I'll bet you can imagine our surprise and elation when we heard this gem of a conversation!" Greta laughed delightedly at the end of her speech, and added as an afterthought, "Who ever knew that such a tiny device could be so powerful?"

Stefano turned and looked down at his daughter by his side. After all of this evidence had been presented to him, and all of Salem, Stefano could feel the carefully constructed walls of his organization crumbling around him. One last effort, he thought, and decided to try to protect himself. He took a step away from Lexi as his hand slowly made its way towards the inside of his tuxedo jacket…


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

"Halt!" a loud, commanding voice tinted with an English shouted at Stefano as his hand moved slowly to his jacket. Another beacon of light appeared, focusing on Ethan Sinclair as he made his way down the steps until he stood next to Hope Brady. His own threatening gun was out, aiming directly at DiMera's black heart. "If you continue to move your hand, I will gladly drop you were you stand. I will not allow you to place anyone here in any danger, DiMera, especially when one of the ladies in attendance happens to be my wife."

The scene of Chloe greeting Ethan warmly at Salem Place a few days ago flashed through Brady's mind. Wife? his mind screamed in denial, praying that Chloe had not married this man. He looked for Chloe and stared at her face, but could not find anything to confirm or deny the question if she was Ethan Sinclair's wife.

Wife? Bo's mind shouted, as he sought Hope, who was standing in close proximity to the new visitor. The thought that his ex-wife could have moved on and remarried another man jolted Bo, causing much of his bitterness and anger towards Hope to begin to disappear.

"Ha, ha, ha. Very funny." Stefano laughed slightly as his hand dropped slowly away from his jacket. He knew that he had been bested. "And just who the hell are you?"

Ethan allowed a provoking grin to flash across his face as he admitted to DiMera and the people of Salem his secret identity, "Ethan Sinclair. ISA." He motioned for Stefano to put his hands in the air, which he reluctantly did.

Greta looked for the next direction from Ethan. He nodded at her. After he gave her silent permission, she slowly walked up to Stefano and slipped her hand under his jacket, taking his hidden gun away from the malevolent man. She walked quickly back to her original position, holding the gun gingerly with her hands. When she passed John Black, she handed it to him, deciding that he would definitely know how to hold it. "Here," she said as he accepted it reluctantly. She then wiped her hands in disgust on the skirt of her dress after relieving herself of the gun and moved towards Hope and Ethan.

After DiMera was unarmed, Ethan took complete charge of the show. "This is it, DiMera. The moment these three astonishing women have been waiting for. The complete irony of tonight's revelations is that you are solely responsible for your own downfall. You and you alone created the single-minded motivation that drove these women to take you down." Ethan then motioned for the silent ISA agents behind him to enter the scene. "You may arrest them," he ordered them, pointing with his free hand to Stefano and Lexi.

The agents strode purposefully to the floor, and proceeded to handcuff a furious DiMera and a shocked Lexi. "You can't do this to us!" Lexi cried tearfully as they were led away from the dance floor. The only sympathetic eye to follow her was Brandon Walker. Everyone else felt that she had finally gotten what she deserved. "Don't you know who you are dealing with?"

Chloe stepped towards the group in the center of the floor, wanting to be with Hope and Greta when Stefano passed them on his way to the elevators. She knew now that Stefano was capable of anything, and she hoped her presence would help strengthen them against his coming viciousness.

DiMera eyed the trio menacingly as he was led by them. "You may have won today," he whispered to the three women lowly, so only they could hear him, "but don't get too comfortable. I am not known as the phoenix for nothing. I will rise again from the ashes of the fire you three have created."

"Go to hell, where you belong," Hope responded, coolly and confidently. "We won the final battle of the war, DiMera. There is no way you will be able to fight your way free of all of the charges we have stacked against you."

DiMera faced Chloe on the way out, obviously attempting to say something to her. She prevented him by bringing in his favorite analogy to his current situation, "Checkmate, DiMera. You lose." The agents pulled him roughly away, before he could make any type of threat to his daughter. The three women watched, pleased as Stefano DiMera was led out the door and away from their sight.

"Good riddance!" Greta exclaimed brightly to her friends. She had completely forgotten about the fascinated audience who had recently witnessed them bring the infamous Stefano DiMera down. The guests of the ball were still in complete shock over the scene that had just been enacted in front of their surprised and astounded eyes.

Ethan placed his arm around the woman he loved, his wife, and looked deeply into her eyes. "I, for one, am very grateful to Stefano DiMera. If he hadn't motivated you three to go after him so strongly, I may never have met my wonderful wife!" He then proceeded to passionately kiss his wife, uncaring of the many eyes observing their very first public kiss. Their marriage had to be secret because of their plans for Stefano DiMera. No one could have knowledge of their connection. The lights slowly began to come back on, lighting the ballroom once again.

Hope tapped Chloe on the shoulder as they witnessed Ethan's and Greta's long, heated, passionate kiss. "They make such a cute couple, don't you think?"

Chloe pretended to ponder Hope's question, and then replied, laughing slightly, "I guess so. If you like the tall, dark, and handsome type." She grinned warmly at her friend, joy sparkling in her beautiful sapphire eyes.

Hope couldn't prevent the peal of laughter that trickled out of her mouth. She pulled Chloe to her and laid her forehead on top of hers. "I can't keep this bottled in any longer! I am so proud of you, of all of us! We were able to do it!"

Chloe brought her hands up to Hope's face and cupped her cheeks as she looked directly into her eyes, uncaring of the many eyes observing their private celebration. "I am, too, Hope. I can't believe that we made it all come together. It seems like we've been planning this moment for years, and now it's finally over. We did it!" The two of them exchanged a warm embrace, closing their eyes in celebration as identical smiles of pure joy lit up their faces.

Ethan received a phone call on his cell phone, interrupting his kiss with Greta. "I have to leave," he whispered to Greta as he gazed into her eyes. "My superiors have called me on the carpet. They want explanations, and they want them now!" She smiled in perfect understanding and gave him one last kiss on his lips. Then, she glanced around, searching for her friends.

"Hey, you two!" Greta shouted impatiently at them as she left Ethan's strong arms, walking purposefully over to them. "Let me in on this! You know you can't celebrate without me! We're a team!"

"We didn't think we could tear you away from that gorgeous husband of yours," Chloe teased her sister as she pulled away from Hope and invited Greta into their group hug. The three women hugged each other, amazed at the true and lasting bond they had formed through such extenuating circumstances.

Hope broke contact with her friends and took a tiny step back. She held one of Chloe's hands and grabbed one of Greta's and held tight. Chloe and Greta pressed their free hand into the others, so that the three women formed a circle, much like they had before their plans for DiMera had started. They clasped their hands together tightly as they each savored their ultimate triumph over the evil Stefano DiMera.

"I don't know what to say now," Hope began as she felt a tear slide down her face. "I am in awe that we have finally succeeded in our mission. It's totally amazing!"

Chloe gazed with joy and love at the two women who meant so much to her. "I understand exactly how you feel. Kind of like this should be a dream, not our reality. We have worked hard, so very hard, to get to this moment. It's almost surreal."

"I feel like we should all go to Disney World!" Greta laughed delightedly as she referenced the famous commercial line, grateful that her world had finally righted itself. She had helped bring down Stefano DiMera, had married a wonderful man, had a fantastic career, had a lovely sister and a terrific best friend. It had taken awhile, but her world was definitely perfect now.

"I, ah, don't mean to break up your celebration," John Black announced suddenly and loudly as he did just that, "but, umm, I think we could all use an explanation about everything that just happened here."

The three women dropped each other's hands and slowly turned around, meeting the fascinated and interested faces of the people of Salem for the first time. The people were looking at them with varying degrees of shock, astonishment, respect, and admiration, completely in awe of the women who had succeeded in bringing Stefano DiMera to justice.

"It's really quite simple," Hope began slowly, even though she was not in the mood for explanations at this moment. This time, she believed, belonged to her, Greta, and Chloe. Not to everyone in Salem. "Everyone here is familiar with our history with Stefano DiMera. We simply decided to put an end, once and for all, to the hold he had over us."

Greta chimed in with her opinions, bringing attention back to her, "Yeah. Isn't it amazing what can happen when three beautiful brunettes team up? Hell, we're practically unstoppable!"

"But how did you engineer all of this?" John continued his inquisition. He could not believe that the women in front of him had succeeded in doing the impossible. He wanted details, so he could totally understand their motivation and their ideas, as well as completely contemplate their success. They had succeeded where he had failed, and he needed to know their secrets.

Chloe tried to but couldn't prevent her eyes from searching for Brady while Hope and Greta were conversing with John. When she locked glances with him, the smile on her face slid away. The connection that continued to exist between seemed even more electric, more intense, as they stared at each other. Brady finally nodded his head, once, towards Chloe, as a sign of congratulations for her part in DiMera's downfall. After that, Chloe broke their visual connection and focused her attention back on the discussion.

"But," Hope said slowly to John and, she was sure, his many questions, "I think that we would like to go home, to have our own private celebration right now." Greta nodded in agreement. "We'll be glad to outline everything for you in complete detail, tomorrow."

Greta cut in, interrupted Hope's refusal to offer detailed explanations right now. "You are absolutely right, Hope. Tonight is our night. We should go home, unwind from tonight's events."

"The power of three," Chloe murmured slightly as she also agreed with her friends. "That sounds like a perfect ending to an excellent evening."

Hope turned and faced John, as well as the rest of Salem, after her companions agreed with her. "What do you say? Tomorrow, around eleven o'clock, at The Brady Pub? We'll explain everything then."

John reluctantly nodded his head, even though he really wanted to now everything tiny thing that had led to this awesome and shocking event. He placed his arm around Marlena's waist, pulling her close, as he inclined his head towards Hope. "We'll be there."

Hope gifted John with a small smile. Her eyes quickly glanced at both Bo and Shawn, but then fell away. She wished that they could be part of this celebration, but didn't know if that ever could happen. "Let's go, girls!"

The three women strolled confidently to the elevator, pleased with their part in the night's activities. They poised briefly on the railing before the elevator came, smiling cheerfully at each other.

Chloe couldn't prevent the wistful look that crossed her eyes quickly as she took one last glance at Brady Black, who was still located on the dance floor. I wonder, she thought, if there is a chance for us now. Then, her eyes found John Black, who was looking directly at her. She remembered his conversation and his warning, earlier tonight. Maybe not, she thought as her old insecurities started to resurface.

They stepped into the elevator. The door closed on them, effectively cutting them off from the still-stunned party guests.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter Twenty-Nine**

"That was one hell of a "Charlie's Angels" impression," Nicole Walker Kiriakis remarked immediately and loudly after the elevator doors closed, blocking off all sight of the three women who had managed to shock everyone in attendance.

"Nicole," Victor began warningly, hoping she wasn't going to embarrass him with a whining remark about the three astonishing women who had just departed Tuscany. It was hard to earn his respect, but that trio certainly did with their astounding actions. They were also standing close to the Blacks and the Bradys, who were able to hear this conversation. Victor did not want that group to hear a snide comment from his wife.

Nicole turned and gazed directly at Victor, with sincerity and admiration shining brightly in her eyes. "I mean it. I am seriously impressed with Hope, Greta, and Chloe. Damn, I didn't know they had it in them!"

Victor rewarded Nicole with a proud smile, glad that she had uttered such a satisfactory statement. He could tell that she was sincere in her remarks about the trio.

Belle responded, still slightly stunned, to Nicole's remarks as she and Victor left the vicinity, still discussing the evening's events. "I must say, Nicole is right. I can't believe what we just witnessed here. It was, like, totally amazing."

Shawn's first instinct had been to go after his mother and have her explain everything to him, tonight. But, his hurt at her deception to him and his father still ruled the rest of his emotions. He wasn't ready yet to completely forgive or forget his mother's actions. Maybe after we hear their explanations tomorrow, he thought hopefully, I'll be able to start putting the past behind me. He agreed with his fiancée, with his eyes trained directly on the elevator doors, "I know what you mean, Belle. They completely blew us away tonight."

"They had everything planned so intricately, down to the tiniest detail. I wonder how they came up with all of the evidence against Stefano." John thoughtfully rubbed his chin as he pondered the scene they had witnessed this evening. "It was shocking, the amount of information they collected over the past three years. It was simply perfect. How did they do it?"

Marlena couldn't prevent the large, pleased smile from adorning her face as she faced her husband. She was ecstatic about tonight. Not only had Stefano DiMera been brought down, but also she believed they were close to learning exactly why Chloe Lane had broken things off with Brady. She had always thought that there was a good reason for their break-up; now she was sure of it. Ending things with Brady and going after DiMera so determinedly. It seemed too coincidental. And, she knew from experience, coincidences never occurred if Stefano DiMera was involved. "We'll find out tomorrow, John, at the pub."

"I personally cannot wait!" Belle insisted happily, excited about the possibility of a reconciliation between Shawn and his mother. She wasn't certain about Chloe yet. Her mind was still closed against her and the pain she had caused Brady, unless Chloe had an extremely good explanation for trampling her brother's heart.

Brady listened to the ongoing conversations swirl around him while he soaked in the startling events of the evening. His emotions were in a turmoil, now more than ever. Outwardly, his face revealed nothing about how he was feeling. Inwardly, he was confused, excited, nervous, furious, sad, bitter…You name it, he felt it at this moment. He couldn't believe that Chloe had put herself in such a dangerous position. Taking on Stefano DiMera was not a piece of cake. And, yet, she had handled it admirably well, not backing down from the most feared man in Salem, who also happened to be her father.

He started to feel excited about meeting Chloe again and hearing her explanation late tomorrow morning at the pub. But, then, his memory painfully reinserted itself, stifling the small thread of hope that had been building within him. Chloe had completely rejected him and his love, three years ago. The bitterness fought his excitement and won, overtaking him as he realized that their break-up had been done by Chloe's choice. There was no way Stefano DiMera could have engineered their end of their relationship. He sighed slightly, feeling the familiar feelings of hopelessness and desolation overtake him.

At Greta's house…

Chloe flopped down on the sofa in the living room, still clad in her glamorous evening dress. "I think I am going to have this dress framed," she called out brightly to Hope and Greta as they entered the room, carrying a silver tea tray and a platter of chocolate chip cookies.

"I know exactly what you mean," Greta responded lightly as she gracefully placed the tea tray on the coffee table. She carefully made herself a cup of tea and then sat down next to Chloe on the sofa. "I mean, this night will go down as one of THE best nights of our lives! We have finally brought DiMera to justice!"

"It's funny," Hope added as she picked up a cookie from the platter and took a seat on the sofa on the other side of Chloe. "After all these years, we are the ones who have succeeded in getting Stefano DiMera. So many people have tried and failed, miserably. I guess we had the proper drive and the right motivation."

"Yeah," Chloe agreed as she made her own cup of tea, pouring milk from the cute cow creamer into her mug. "Completely destroying three lives, and clearly enjoying the wreckage, is definitely excellent motivation!"

Greta brought her legs up under her, curling them comfortably on the sofa. She sipped elegantly from her cup. "Exactly. Stefano certainly didn't know the effects his scheme would have on all of us. If he did, I don't think he would ever have come back to Salem. He's definitely down for the count."

"TKO!" Hope laughed, delighted with her response to Greta's colorful description. "The three of us certainly pack quite a punch."

The smile that had adorned Chloe's face faded as she began to experience a twinge of melancholy, a surprising emotion to feel under the successful circumstances of the night. She placed her mug carefully back on the coffee table.

Greta stopped laughing abruptly when she looked at her extremely quiet sister, who seemed to have taken herself out of their private celebration. She was staring off into space. "What's wrong, Chloe? You look, oh, I don't know, sad or depressed or something. What gives?"

Chloe looked at the two women who she had formed such a special and unique bond with, due ironically to Stefano DiMera's interference in all of their lives. She sighed slightly, and then slowly admitted to them, "I'm not quite certain. I know that, by all rights, tonight was a rousing success, and I am really ecstatic about that. But, I can't help feeling that I still lost, somehow. I don't know if the score has really been settled between us and Stefano."

Hope was experiencing the same feeling, elation combined with a slight depression. She faced Chloe and Greta directly as she began to help Chloe deal with her conflicting emotions. "Chloe, I am experiencing the same feelings you are right now."

Hope chewed on her bottom lip for a minute, gathering her thoughts, before she continued, "We went after Stefano DiMera simply for revenge, plan and simple. No arguments there. And we completely succeeded. He's been taken into custody, and there is no way he can escape."

"But?" Greta prompted Hope, after Hope had paused briefly. Greta realized that Hope was not finished with making her point. Chloe watched Hope carefully, waiting for her friend to fully explain her feelings.

"And if feels outstanding, amazing, wonderful, you name it, that we brought DiMera down. Revenge can be a terrific motivation. I know we all agree with that." Hope saw Greta and Chloe nod their heads in agreement. "However, revenge does not get back what we lost at the hands of Stefano DiMera. It is not equal to what we could have had, what we should have had, if he had only not interfered so drastically in our lives." Hope thought briefly of the family she had lost, and may never regain. Her face reflected a lost, wistful expression that showed exactly how Hope was feeling at this moment.

Chloe closed her eyes in resignation as Hope perfectly explained her situation. "That is exactly it. Now that the adrenaline is gone, the excitement has disappeared, all I want to do is cry, for all that we lost." A tear made its way quietly down her face as the image of Brady Black formed behind her closed lids. Was there even a point in explaining things to him? she wondered heartbrokenly.

Greta cried out lightly, slightly frustrated with her sister and her best friend, "Oh, sweetheart! Don't do that!" She hugged Chloe tightly to her, comforting her in the only way she possibly could right now. "This is a night for happiness, for celebration!"

Hope joined the embrace, grateful for the understanding and love that existed between them. She had the same pain that Chloe did, and could completely sympathize with her. Now that their goal had been met, uncertainty clouded their lives. How would Bo and Shawn react to me? Hope wasn't sure, so she just held onto her friends tighter.

"All right, enough of this!" Greta exclaimed suddenly, breaking their connection. "I know that both of you are concerned about certain people's reactions to our explanations tomorrow. Well, actually, later on today."

Chloe thought about the meeting at the pub with severe reservations. The awful conversation with John Black haunted Chloe as she remembered the warning he had given her, earlier this evening, to stop playing games with Brady. Brady, well, he had stayed away from her the entire night, not making a single move in her direction. Of course, that could possibly have been because she had avoided him at the ball. Chloe took a deep breath and admitted aloud, reacting to the self-doubt and insecurities that were hounding her, "I'm not going to tell Brady or the rest of the Blacks about my deal with DiMera. At least, not right away. I just don't see a future with Brady right now. I mean, he can't stand being near me anymore and his family, with the possible exception of Dr. Evans, despises me."

Hope looked at Chloe, surprised by her admissions. Then, her own insecurities about Bo and Shawn reasserted themselves as she agreed with Chloe. "I feel the same way about Bo and Shawn," she whispered. "Even when we tell them about our plans for DiMera, I don't know if I can completely open myself up to them again. If they rejected me, the pain this time would be unbearable."

Greta looked in astonishment at the two women in front of her, not believing what she was hearing. "Are you two kidding me? Chloe, you can't be serious! The Blacks will completely understand, and they will be so grateful for your sacrifice."

"I don't want their gratitude," Chloe insisted, defending her decision to protect her heart. Brady had once told her that she "lead with her head, to protect her heart", a statement she totally agreed with. "All I wanted was Brady's love, but I don't think any reason in the world can salvage it. His father was very adamant tonight, when he insisted that I was no good for Brady. I simply can't, Greta. Knowing the truth would only hurt Brady more. I just can't go through it again."

Greta frowned deeply at Chloe, showing her clear frustration and annoyance at her little sister, and then turned her displeasure on Hope. "And you are not going to tell Bo and Shawn how completely devastated you have been? That you have mourned for them every single day since you left them? Come on, Hope!"

Hope stood up quickly as she responded strongly, "It wouldn't make a difference now, Greta. Three years I've been out of their lives. Shawn doesn't even want me to come to his wedding!" She stopped as the hurt poured out of her and then she fled the room, seeking the solitude of her bedroom.

Chloe followed Hope quickly, also wanting the privacy of her own room, where she could cry for all of her lost dreams. Her insecurities had resurfaced, big time, after that talk with John Black and the other confrontations she had had with various members of the Black family since her return to Salem. At the moment, any possible future with Brady Black looked pretty bleak.

Greta watched in amazement as her closest friends in the world left the room. "What blatant stupidity!" she exclaimed, her face revealing her extreme frustration with them. "Some celebration," she added sarcastically as she threw her hands up in the air, annoyed at how the night had turned out.

Ethan entered the living room, glancing in concern at Greta. "Why do you look like that?" he questioned her as he took off his tuxedo jacket and sat down on the coffee table, meeting her gaze levelly.

"No good reason," Greta answered smartly and sarcastically, a snide look entering her eyes. "Only my best friend and my little sister have decided not to share some pertinent information with certain people. They are so damn stubborn and infuriating!"

"And no one's ever used those words to describe you, huh?" Ethan asked as he rubbed Greta's shoulders in comfort, trying to distract her from her growing concern over Hope and Chloe. He knew Hope and Chloe well, and had silently predicted this reaction from them all along.

A sudden inspiration hit Greta, a way to overcome Chloe's insecurities and Hope's defensiveness. She placed her hands on Ethan's cheeks and brought him closer to her. "I'm ignoring that remark right now, Ethan, because I just had the BEST idea!" A huge smile adorned her face as she leaned in even closer to him and whispered lowly to him, explaining exactly what she wanted to do tomorrow at the pub. "What do you think?" she finally asked him. "Will it work?"

Ethan pulled his wife to him, smiling lovingly into her face. She was so damn beautiful! he thought irrationally before he answered her questions, "I predict that, by tomorrow evening at the latest, two extremely happy women will be extremely grateful for your loving interference!"

He leaned down and picked his wife up from the sofa, carrying her up the stairs towards their bedroom, in imitation of Scarlett and Rhett's famous trek up the staircase. (Only, she wasn't struggling and he wasn't drunk.) "Now, let's put you worries aside for the night, and make this a real celebration!" Greta's sudden peal of laughter echoed through the house before she kissed her husband passionately.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter Thirty**

Ethan pulled the chair back for Greta, assisting her into the seat before he sat down next to her. The Brady Pub was filled to the brim with many curious Salemites. So many people had come there, desiring to hear how Stefano DiMera had been defeated so thoroughly and well at the hands of such surprising people. "Did they change their minds?" he asked her lowly, so no one could hear him, referring to Chloe's and Hope's decisions not to attempt to reconcile with their loved ones.

Greta touched his cheek as she whispered back. "No, of course not. That would be too simple. One would think that beating Stefano DiMera at his own game would have infused more courage and spunk in those two. Obviously, it did not." She blew a stray lock of hair out of her eyes, still upset with her closest friends.

"Did you bring our little present?" Ethan responded, as he tried to hide his smile at Greta's description of her good friends. He cared for Hope and Chloe, and sincerely wanted their dreams to come true. He was aware of the complete situation surrounding both Hope and Chloe.

Greta grinned in expectation as she answered, "Of course. I am going to do everything in my power to make them as happy as I am." She touched Ethan's face, letting him know that he was the reason she was so happy now.

As Brady watched the warm interaction between Princess Greta and the ISA agent, he remembered the overwhelming relief he had experienced last night when he realized Ethan Sinclair was married to Chloe's sister, and not to Chloe. He glanced at the door, wondering when Chloe and Hope Brady would arrive. He kept his face carefully neutral as he waited impatiently for the forthcoming explanations. But I don't know where we will go from here, he thought.

"I can't wait to find out how they engineered DiMera's downfall!" Marlena chirped excitedly as she, John, Belle, and Shawn joined Brady at the counter, waiting for the two remaining guests of honor to show up at the pub. "Every time I closed my eyes last night, I saw them successfully defeat Stefano DiMera. That is something I never thought would happen."

John sat down on a stool, sipping from his cup of coffee. He held his cup up in the air and said, "I admit to a huge curiosity, too. Marlena had to stop me from going over to Greta's house countless times last night, demanding an explanation then and there."

Bo arrived in time to hear John's statement and leaned on the counter. He was about to respond when the door of the pub opened, revealing his former wife and Chloe Lane framed in the doorway.

Chloe and Hope paused in the doorway as they became the recipient of every pair of eyes in the place. "We really have to stop arriving late," Hope whispered to Chloe when she realized everyone was looking at them. "All of this staring is starting to get on my nerves."

Chloe grinned slightly at Hope before her eyes involuntarily searched the crowd. She immediately connected with Brady's gaze and paused briefly before closing the door behind them. She tried to read his face, but failed completely. His expression gave nothing away. I guess I am right, she thought miserably, about not telling him about that damn deal.

Greta immediately stood up and greeted them, bringing them welcomingly into the atmosphere. "I bet J.T. was so excited about spending the afternoon with your grandmother, Hope!" she exclaimed as she pulled them to her table, which was located in the center of the room. "And that Alice Horton is really looking forward to showing you how to bake those heavenly cookies, Chloe!"

Hope and Chloe realized that Greta was attempting to set them at ease in a slightly tense situation. Greta knew that they were both nervous and apprehensive about this large group meeting. Neither of them knew how certain people in Salem would react to their reasons.

Roman Brady took charge suddenly, cutting into the warm interactions between Hope, Chloe, and Greta. He was slightly jealous that these women had taken on DiMera and won; he wanted to know in complete and total detail how they had accomplished the impossible. "All right, ladies," he addressed them, almost sternly. "I think I can speak for everyone here when I say that we would love to hear how, exactly, you successfully caught DiMera."

Hope took a deep breath before she began describing their actions. She had been unanimously voted the main speaker by Greta and Chloe early this morning, so she had a chance to prepare what she wanted to say to nearly all of Salem. "Well, as we said last night at the ball, the three of us decided that we wanted to get DiMera, to pay him back for all of the evil schemes he has been responsible for, in our lives and in the lives of many others."

She paused briefly before continuing, "We, um, planned nearly every step of our campaign, beginning with our decision to leave Salem three years ago. You see, I had regained most of my memories of Princess Gina and I shared them with Greta and Chloe, right after that fateful ball. Together, we decided that the best way to get DiMera was to expose his art thefts in Europe."

Greta cut in to add as she faced the curious faces in front of her, "We knew that the only way to get any evidence against Stefano was to enter the elite society that Princess Gina had belonged to. My entrance was guaranteed because of my mother's heritage. Hope was also well-known, from her likeness to our mother and from her time as a model for Bella. But, in order to get Chloe accepted, we had to force her to accept her title. She was pretty adamant against it, but Hope and I eventually wore her down."

Brady brought his head up in surprise, a misconception about Chloe's actions falling to the ground. She didn't want to be a real princess? he wondered, as he continued to listen very carefully to the next round of explanations.

"But simply accepting a title wouldn't get us into the elite society we needed to move around in," Chloe explained to the crowd. "It was imperative that we belonged to the highest level of society because they were the targets of Stefano DiMera. We had to create a mystery, an allure around us, something that would make those people invite us willingly into their circle."

"And that's why you started Notorious," John surmised, starting to put the pieces together of the beginning stages of their plan. "The introduction of that magazine created a huge sensation overnight, here and in Europe. That's what insured your welcome reception into society." He nodded his head slowly, pleased with his insights into their plans.

"Exactly," Hope said, glad that John had correctly interpreted their actions. "When we were accepted and welcomed into society, we started doing research. You know, trying to figure out what type of art DiMera would be after. We attended parties where there was a possibility of an art theft, and tried to get any information we could from that."

"Our plans moved very slow, though," Greta interrupted Hope, as she told them how difficult it was for them to get any real evidence against Stefano DiMera in the first year of their attempt. "It was hard for us to get any hard evidence because we didn't have the technology available to us that we needed. Sure, we guessed correctly on the who, what, when, and where, but we weren't very successful collecting any hard data. And that is where Ethan comes in." She smiled at him, with love shining from her eyes.

"Obviously, I work for the ISA," Ethan said, as it was his turn to explain his part in the downfall of DiMera. "I had been working secretly on his case for well over a year, before I came into contact with these lovely ladies. I originally thought that they were working for DiMera, but they soon proved me wrong. We simply teamed up, which made our results come so much quicker."

"Ethan had the equipment and expertise that we lacked," Chloe replied, smiling warmly at her brother-in-law. She loved him, and was so happy that he had fallen head over heels for her sister. "We were able to combine our activities and finally start building a solid case against him."

"That's about it," Hope said, as she brought their time in Europe to a close. "We waited until Ethan caught the two art thieves that worked for DiMera and persuaded them to cut a deal. Then, we knew it was time to return to Salem, to finally complete our plan for him."

Greta nodded as she picked up the next part of their plan. "The only loose end we needed to tie was the location of the art. Where did he keep all of the stolen treasures? Hope suspected it was in the mansion, so we had Chloe plant that bug in there, hoping to find a block of time when Hope and Ethan could search for it."

"We didn't have a hard time finding the room," Hope broke into Greta's explanation. "Greta and Chloe detained DiMera when he was at The Blue Note so we could have all the time we needed to search for it."

"Chloe did all of the work there," Greta insisted strongly, still disgusted at herself. "Unfortunately, I hung her out to dry on that one." Chloe crinkled her nose at Greta, showing her that she didn't see Greta's actions in that light.

"Anyway," Hope continued, "when we found the room, everything else moved rapidly. All we had to do was confront DiMera with it. You all witnessed that last night at the ball. That's everything."

At that moment, the door to the pub opened, letting in a furious Kate Roberts. She stopped in the doorway, searching the crowd, not noticing or not caring about the interruption she had caused. "Oh, Brady, John, there you are!" she exclaimed as she strode swiftly to them at the counter, breaking into their concentration. "Listen, we've got a serious problem at Basic Black. I don't mean to break anything up here, but I need Brady. Now."

Brady looked at his father as he stood up reluctantly from his stool. "I'll go," he said, missing the look of appeal on Chloe's face. He followed Kate, who walked very swiftly and talking a mile a minute, out of the pub, listening to her expand on the serious computer network issue that had crashed their system, right before the next issues of some of their magazines were coming out.

When the door closed behind the swiftly departing pair, Chloe casually picked up her glass of water, attempting to hide her disappointment at Brady's abrupt departure. She closed her eyes slightly as she took a calming sip from it, getting her emotions under control. Her insecurities about Brady Black were stronger than ever.

"That was quite an impressive plan," John said as he looked with genuine amazement at the women in front of him. He had seen the look of desolation cross Chloe's face when Brady had left before she had carefully disguised it. Maybe she's not completely heartless, he thought.

Hope noticed that Shawn or Bo did not say anything, positive or negative, about their plan. They both looked at her, with slightly stony expressions on their face. This was the reaction she had expected from them, but not the one she had fantasized about. In her dreams, both Shawn and Bo had immediately forgiven her, expressing their love for her as soon as she had shared her actions with them.

Obviously not going to happen, she thought dismally. Hope Brady, you are living in a dream world. She realized that she needed to get out of there, and quickly, before she completely broke down. She took a deep breath and announced as she rose gracefully from her chair, trying to prevent her knees from buckling in disappointment, "That's all, folks. Hey, Chloe, I think you and I have a date right now. Involving a sassy grandmother and a heavenly cookie recipe."

Chloe gratefully rose from her chair. She had hated watching Brady leave the pub. "You're right, Hope. I can't learn how to bake those wonderful chocolate chip cookies!"

Hope laughed at Chloe as she told the room at large, covering up her own disappointment and despair, "Chloe cannot bake worth a damn! Even the birds refused to eat the last cookies she made!" Chloe playfully slapped Hope lightly on the shoulders as they prepared to leave the pub.

An annoyed look crossed Greta's face as she watched the two of them exit through the door. "Of all the stupid, stubborn, infuriating people I have ever met!" she exclaimed loudly, causing all eyes to once again turn towards her. "I am not going to let them get away with this!" Ethan sat back in his chair, his eyes gleaming with amusement, as he prepared to watch his wife work her magic.

She stood up in a huff and strode purposefully towards John Black. When she reached him, she pulled a cassette tape out of her pocket. "Those idiots I like to call friends left out some very important information!" She held the tape aloft in the air, so everyone could see. "I want you all to listen to this tape, to hear everything that is on it. It will clear up a lot of misconceptions about my sister and my friend." She slapped the tape against John's chest, who caught it in surprise, and turned around abruptly. "Come on, Ethan! I am so angry right now, I think I need to walk! Either that, or go shopping!" She pulled him out of his chair and the two of them left the pub swiftly, with Greta closing the door loudly behind them.

Marlena opened her eyes wide after the scene that had been enacted before their eyes. "Well, John?" she prompted him. "Now I really want to hear what's on that tape!" She had a strong suspicion that the tape may shed some light onto Chloe's rejection of Brady.

John frowned as he handed the tape to the elder Shawn Brady, who placed it in the stereo located behind the bar. Complete silence filled the pub, until Chloe's voice rang out clearly.

"Testing, testing," Chloe's whisper could be heard as the dialogue from Chapter Thirteen rang clearly throughout the entire pub.

Dead silence followed the playing of the tape when it clicked off, following the loud commotion caused by Chloe's flip of DiMera's chessboard. The younger Shawn Brady swiftly grabbed Belle's hand and sprinted rapidly out of the pub, wanting to talk to his mother as soon as possible. He couldn't believe the pain and devastation he had heard in her voice as she and Chloe had discussed her reasons for hiding certain information from her family, as well as the satisfaction Stefano DiMera had shown for causing the destruction of Hope's family.

John breathed in deeply as he looked at a triumphant Marlena, who had satisfaction gleaming brightly in her eyes. "Told you so," she exclaimed happily to them, seeing a Brady and Chloe reconciliation in the near future.

John didn't respond to Marlena. Instead, he turned slowly to Shawn and asked for the tape back. When he received it, he pocketed the tape and announced to a glowing Marlena, "I'm going to make sure Brady hears this tape."


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter Thirty-One**

"You need to roll out the dough evenly," Hope explained to Chloe in her grandmother's kitchen. She demonstrated with a rolling pin. "You usually slap the dough down on the counter and the proceed to mangle it. That's why your cookies always end up looking like rejects from Tollhouse."

"Rejects!" Chloe exclaimed to her friend, looking at Hope in exasperation. She reached into the mixing bowl and picked up a large amount of cookie dough. "I'll show you a reject!" she threatened, as she lifted the dough in the air, preparing to fling it at Hope.

Suddenly, the kitchen door flew open, shocking both Hope and Chloe, who turned around to face the sudden entrance. Shawn was framed in the doorway, looking completely devastated and unsure of himself. "Shawn!" Hope said in shock, momentarily forgetting about Chloe's baking lessons, or that her hands were temporarily covered with cookie dough.

Shawn looked at his mother, uncertain of how to proceed. How exactly does one grovel, or beg for forgiveness? he thought, while he remembered every cruel, thoughtless word he had uttered to her. He couldn't decide what route to take, and finally settled on the most direct one.

Chloe watched in concern as Shawn walked up to his mother and stood uncertainly in front of her. She began to smile in relief and complete happiness as Shawn suddenly pulled his mother to him, in a strong, fierce hug.

"Mom, oh god, Mom!" Shawn exclaimed, expelling a deep breath, hoping to relieve his nerves, as he held onto her tightly to him, relieved that she returned his embrace. "I don't, I just don't have the words."

Hope began crying inelegantly, huge, gut-wrenching sobs, as Shawn continued to hold her, attempting to give her physical comfort. "It doesn't matter, Shawn. All that matters is that you are here, in my arms." She took a deep breath in-between sobs and whispered to him, "I love you so much, Shawn Douglas Brady."

A tear slid down Shawn's face as his mother's sobs tore at his heart. He couldn't believe that he could have been so selfish, so unfeeling, not realizing that his mother was in such heartbreaking, mind-numbing pain. "I know, Mom, I know. I love you, too." He kissed her on the forehead as he continued wit his apologies, "I'm sorry, Mom, I'm so damn sorry!"

Chloe felt silent tears of jubilation escape her eyes as she witnessed the beautiful scene in front of her, covering her mouth with her hands with joyful relief. "Oh, Hope," she murmured happily, delighted for her friend, "you have Shawn back." She finally decided that she should allow them some privacy and turned to walk out the door.

Her eyes opened wide when she saw Belle in the doorway and she came to a complete and sudden halt. Belle was gazing with interest at the scene unfolding in front of her eyes, with a mixed expression on her face. Belle was the only person Chloe had ever met who could express two strong emotions at the same time. It seemed that she hadn't lost that ability. Right now, Belle's face showed happiness and sorrow.

When Chloe reached her former friend, Belle turned her full gaze on her, away from the sight of Shawn with his mother. "Oh, Chloe," Belle said, not certain where to began. Then, she looked beyond Chloe and saw Shawn leading his mother over to a chair, patting her shoulders slightly. Belle sighed deeply, a trait she had inherited from her father, and announced to Chloe after clearing her throat, "Come on, let's leave them alone." She reached down and grabbed Chloe's hand, pulling her through the door.

Wow, Chloe thought as she followed behind Belle. This is really weird. First Shawn has completely reconciled with his mother and now Belle Black wants to talk to me! She shook her head in disbelief at this unexpected turn of events, wondering what had caused such a drastic change in attitude.

Belle pulled Chloe into Alice Horton's sewing room, where they could have some privacy. J.T. was currently playing with Alice in the living room. She faced Chloe, not sure how to proceed, and then decided to follow Shawn's lead. She stepped up to her friend and pulled her into a hard, tight embrace. "Oh, Chloe! I was so wrong, so wrong about you, so wrong about everything!"

It took Chloe a second to respond because she was still experiencing serious shock, but she then brought her arms up slowly, encircling Belle as she returned her hug. "About what, Belle?" Chloe asked, having no clue about what was going on.

Belle hugged her tighter and then let go of Chloe. She stepped back and placed her hands on her side as she explained about the tape she had heard at The Brady Pub. "Umm, I guess I had better start at the beginning." Chloe continued to look at her in confusion. "You see, after you left the pub, Princess Greta was very upset and angry with you. It was really funny to watch, actually."

Belle laughed slightly in remembrance of Greta's display of infuriating anger, and then stopped short, pulling herself back on task. "Anyway, she gave my father a tape for all of us to listen to. Shawn's grandfather played it for us after she left with her husband, that awfully cute ISA agent. So, anyway, the tape starts out with your voice on it. It must have been the day you planted the bug at Stefano DiMera's mansion, the one you told us about, because you were saying, "testing, testing," into it."

Chloe's eyes opened wide as she covered her hand with her mouth, feeling her heart hit her feet. She knew exactly what conversation was on that tape. "Oh my god!" Chloe whispered, astounded that people had listened to her discussion with Stefano DiMera about certain decisions he had forced her into, which had such a profound effect on her life. "I didn't even know that conversation had been recorded! You heard everything?" It was meant to be a statement, but it came out as a breathless question instead. Chloe didn't even want to hope that it was true. If it was, then the reasons for many of her actions would have come to light.

Belle watched as Chloe, composed, collected Chloe Lane, began to pace the small sewing room furiously, trying to assimilate the information she had just learned. I have never seen her like this, Belle thought, as Chloe continued her pacing, enjoying the sight of a slightly out-of-control Chloe Lane.

Chloe suddenly whirled around, facing Belle. "That's the reason why Shawn is here, isn't it? He heard Stefano talking to me about his grand plan for Hope, and how well it succeeded, tearing her family apart."

"No, that's only part of the reason why Shawn is here. I think what really got to him was listening to you offer such compassion and understanding to his mother, and then, when you stood up so strongly for her against Stefano DiMera. he, well, he instantly regretted that he wasn't there for her, through everything, the way that you and Greta have been." Belle spoke the words in true Belle fashion: quickly, with hardly a pause for air.

Chloe sighed, reassured about Shawn's reaction to his mother. "Good. Then he will finally be able to put everything behind him, to forgive and forget."

"There's nothing for him to forgive," Belle contradicted Chloe, recalling the ride over to Alice Horton's house in Shawn's truck. "He talked, non-stop, about how horrible he's been to her. I mean, his mom was basically ostracized by Shawn and his family, while she was going through so much horrible pain and devastation. I don't know if he will ever completely forgive himself."

"You'll be there, Belle, to help him. You're the best thing in his life," Chloe added meaningfully to her former friend.

"Well, he's going to have to be there for me, too," Belle announced suddenly, "because I am going to have to find ways to forgive myself and for how I've acted towards you. Chloe, I have treated you terribly since you have returned to Salem. God, how bad I've been to you! It's inconceivable!"

Chloe approached Belle slowly and placed her hands on Belle's shoulders. "Don't worry, Belle. I understood exactly where you and your family were coming from. Without knowledge of my godforsaken deal with Stefano DiMera, I really came off as a cold-hearted bitch, a true ice princess."

"But that's what makes it so much worse!" Belle exclaimed loudly. "You knew how we would react to you, how we would treat you. And you still made that bargain. We were going to blame you, to despise you, for breaking up with Brady and shattering his heart. You had to deal with our reaction to the break-up, as well as your own pain and devastation, and not let on at all the real reason why you ended your relationship with Brady! Chloe, how did you survive all of it? The knowledge behind your break-up, the Black family's reaction, the loss of Brady?"

Each word was like a blow to her heart, even though Chloe knew Belle did not mean anything by it. Losing Brady Black had been so hard; the pain had been relentless from the moment she had said her farewells to Brady on the pier. She began to explain her reasons to Belle. "Belle, I couldn't allow that man, the embodiment of pure evil, to hurt your family anymore. I would have done anything to prevent it."

Belle broke in, quickly, and said, "You did everything, Chloe, everything to protect my family. I am so damn grateful to you, so amazed at the lengths you went to protect us." Then, she paused and looked directly into Chloe's beautiful eyes, "But, I can't forgive you."

Chloe's mouth dropped open again as she began to feel a swirl of anger float through her. "Excuse me?" she asked, revealing a little attitude.

"Not until you patch things up with Brady!" Belle exclaimed gaily, letting her façade of anger drop quickly. "You've got to, Chloe. I mean, he's been, like, totally devastated since you left him. Make him happy again, Chloe. Only you can."

Chloe couldn't believe that Belle Black, the same Belle who had warned her away from Brady, now wanted her to work things out with Brady. "Ahhh…." She said uncertainly and quite stupidly, feeling like an actor who had entered a scene and didn't know her lines.

"If you do, I'll let you be a bridesmaid on Christmas Eve," Belle joked, waving that bribe in front of Chloe's eyes. "Come on, Chloe. You took on Stefano DiMera and won. Facing my annoying, irritating, self-assured, handsome brother can't be all that hard. After all, you do still love him. I can see it in your eyes. For once!"

Belle shrugged her shoulders as she added, "Besides, I'm certain my father has dropped the tape off with him by now. Brady will listen to the "amazing revelations" soon."

"Do you think he'll understand my motives?" Chloe inquired anxiously, not certain about Brady's reaction to the tape. Maybe he won't care! she thought dismally, shooting down her tiny thread of hope.

"That's for me to know and you to find out!" Belle sang out cheerfully, positive about Brady's reaction to the love of his life. "But that's enough of that talk for now." She linked her arm through Chloe's and walked back to the kitchen. "I have so much to tell you, Chloe! My wedding is almost here and…"

Chloe couldn't prevent the cheerful smile that pulled at her lips as she listened to Belle ramble on about her wedding. Some things never change, she thought, enjoying her friend's meandering thoughts.


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter Thirty-Two**

The tape suddenly clicked off, joining the deafening silence of the room. Brady dropped his head in his hands from his position on the sofa, complete desolation expressed with the simple motion. He slowly stood up from the sofa, shocked and amazed at the information contained on the tape.

"Chloe," he whispered softly to himself as he walked to the stereo, "dammit, Chloe! Why would you do this?" He reached the stereo and then ejected the tape, holding it in his hand and inspecting it slowly. "Dad told me to be prepared for the shock of my life, but I never expected this!"

He twirled the tape around and then placed it on top of the stereo. A sudden compulsion to see Chloe, to question her about the contents of the tape overcame him, snapping him out of his lethargy. He grabbed his black leather coat from the closet and sprinted out the door, certain he knew exactly where he could find his diva. He also knew exactly how to get the information he so badly needed to know out of her, too.

On the pier…

Chloe pulled her sapphire-wool coat around her, to warm herself up, as the chilly wind blew in off of the water. She lifted her head to the wind, enjoying the icy feel of it on her face. Her eyes closed as she thought about her upcoming meeting with Brady. "I'm just going to let my courage build up a little more, and then I'll go to his apartment," she whispered lightly to herself.

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard on the pier. Chloe turned around quickly, expecting to see Brady Black. After all, the pier was their place. The place they first met, where they sang "The Marriage Of Figaro", where they had revealed their souls to each other.

"Chloe!" John exclaimed as he and Marlena walked up behind her. He approached her quickly, wondering how to erase the damage he had caused last night. Marlena followed at a more sedate pace, pleased that her husband was about to eat some serious crow.

John walked straight up to her and took her hands in his, clutching them tightly. "Chloe, you are the most amazing woman I have ever met. Next to Doc, of course," John added, with a slight grin. "I can't believe what you did for me, for my family." He didn't wait for her reply, but pulled her directly into a hug, all without Chloe saying a word to him.

When John let go of her, Chloe recovered from her surprise and answered him, "Mr. Black, I couldn't let him hurt you or your family anymore. I had witnessed, first hand, how quickly he could totally devastate someone's life. I couldn't, just simply couldn't, let him do that to you."

"We know that," Marlena said quietly, fluttering her eyes at Chloe. "We know your motivation now, the reason why you ended your relationship with Brady. And," she added smugly, "I would like to go on record that I always knew that you had a sound reason for leaving Brady and Salem!"

John put his arm around Marlena and pulled her close to him as he apologized to Chloe, "I am so sorry, Chloe, for the way I've treated you since you've come back to Salem. I've been so rude to you."

"I knew your reasons, Mr. Black, and I completely understood them. I suspected the reaction I would get from you and your family when I returned to Salem. I prepared myself for it." Chloe explained, hoping to lighten John's worry a little bit. "Don't worry about it anymore."

"Right. Not worry," John laughed snidely at himself, regretting his harsh treatment of Chloe even more. "And, you need to start calling me John again, young lady. Anyone who sacrifices themselves for my family definitely has the right to call me by my first name."

Chloe felt pleasure flow through her, grateful for John's warmth once again. She completely admired him, and wanted him to respect her. "I don't think that will be a problem. John." She added, as an afterthought.

Marlena clapped her hands in glee, batting her eyes furiously as she wanted to cry at Chloe's welcome reception to John. "Oh, John!" she exclaimed, so incredibly happy. "Um, Chloe, we're meeting Belle and Shawn at the pub for dinner. Would you care to join us?"

Chloe was about to open her mouth and accept the offer, pleased to have the Blacks understand her reasons, when a voice interrupted, turning the offer down, "I don't think so, Marlena. Chloe and I have a lot to discuss right now."

"Brady!" Chloe exclaimed, not expecting him to show up here, on the pier, now that she was talking to his family. She had wanted to face him in his apartment, when she was emotionally ready. Now, her courage flew out the window, replaced by nervousness and agitation. I'm not ready for this! Her mind screamed loudly as her eyes looked in shock at the handsome, solemn man in front of her.

"Now this is unexpected," John said teasingly, trying to break the intense stare that was connecting Brady and Chloe across the pier. "Well, Doc, I can see when we are not wanted. Come on, let's leave them alone." Marlena nodded and followed. Chloe and Brady didn't even notice their departure. "Good luck, son," John murmured as he left the pier. "Don't blow it."

"I know everything now, Chloe," Brady started, after his father and Marlena left the vicinity. "I know exactly why you broke up with me, at this spot, three years ago."

"Oh, Brady," Chloe whispered to him, "I had to stop that horrible man, my father, from hurting your family again. When he proposed that damn deal, I couldn't turn it down, Brady, I just couldn't."

"Instead, you simply bartered your own pain, in return for my family's safety," Brady interpreted for her, moving slowly in her direction. His eyes were still cloaked, so Chloe couldn't see how he was feeling at this moment.

Chloe took a deep breath, and thought about the advice Belle had given her in Alice Horton's kitchen. 'Let him know how much you still care,' she had insisted to Chloe, 'that you have always loved him. That man would crawl over broken glass for you, Chloe. That's how much he cares.'

"Yes, your family means so much to me, Brady." She prepared to continue with her statement and follow Belle's advice, when he rudely interrupted her.

Brady knew that he had to make Chloe lose her composure, her control on her emotions, if she would share what he so desperately needed her to share with him. So, he prepared to be even more irritating and infuriating to her, a tactic he had used successfully in the past when dealing with Chloe Lane. "You easily turned down his support for your music career, by not accepting his last name. He told you that you would never, ever, be able to sing professionally if you didn't become a DiMera." Brady paused, because he knew how important her singing had always been to her, before he added, "You give up your singing without missing a step, quickly and completely. Why did you give in to his demand to cut all ties with me, to save my family from him?" Brady hid an inward smile as he realized that is plan was working.

Chloe was starting to get angry at Brady because this was not how she wanted this meeting to go. Here he was, calmly questioning her motives like she was some type of a criminal, and not allowing any of his own personal feelings to come through. "Why the hell do you think?" she asked him, wanting to provoke a response from him.

She did. Anger began to blaze in his eyes as he stepped closer to her. "Excuse me, Chloe?" he asked her. "I believe you are the one who needs to clear up all the misconceptions, the lies, and the half-truths here."

"Dammit, Brady!" she yelled at him, losing her self-composure completely as she pushed him, hard, on the chest, causing him to take a full step backwards. "I did it for you! I saw how quickly and effortlessly Stefano DiMera could destroy a life! It took him a little over forty-eight hours to ruin mine! I couldn't let you or your family face that devastation, that heartbreak."

"So you thought it would be easier if you cut all ties with me?" Brady lost control of his temper, which wasn't a surprise, since he and Chloe were used to expressing their thoughts and feelings around each other loudly. But he was also ecstatic. This was the response he had wanted from Chloe. Her guard was completely down, allowing her heart to express her emotions.

"NO!" Chloe shouted at him, all control gone, as tears started to pour down her face, unnoticed by her. "Dammit, it was not easy! I cut my own heart out, Brady, and then I shattered it, when I forced you to leave me that night on the pier!" She pointed dramatically towards her heart, showing him exactly where she still hurt. "My soul has been in shreds without you, my soulmate, in my life! But I couldn't let my demented father hurt you or your family." She took a deep breath and then she yelled at him again, "I was willing, completely and totally willing, to live with that crippling pain because I love you so much, Brady Black!" She turned her back on him, letting the sobs rip out of her.

Brady walked up behind Chloe, relieved that she had admitted what he so desperately needed to hear from her. He gently pulled her into his arms, letting his diva sob into his chest, and rocked her soothingly. He held her tightly, while the sobs continued to rip through her, as he realized the true depth of the pain she had felt at leaving him. He turned her face up to him when her cries slowed down and simply said to her, "Come on, Chloe. I'm taking you home with me." He left his arm around her, pulling her along, even though she looked at him like he was insane or something.


	33. Chapter 33

**Author's** **Note:**

This chapter is rated M. It's the very first intimate adult scene I ever wrote for any couple. We finally get a happy Brady/Chloe chapter!

 **Chapter Thirty-Three**

Chloe felt drained of emotions as Brady led her into his apartment. The worst thing of all was that infuriating man had not even responded to her declaration, well, shriek, of love. He had merely hugged her and then pulled him off to his apartment. What the hell? she wondered, started to feel a second round of anger flash through. "Quite an impressive caveman routine," she remarked smartly to Brady, when he closed the door behind him. "You know, cart the woman off by her hair to your cave. What are you going to do with me now?" She couldn't prevent her taunting of him right now. She was so damn angry at him!

Brady lifted his eyes, so pleased to have his diva back. God, she was magnificent, he thought, as her eyes flashed blue fire at him. He walked up to her, until he was less than an inch from her, and challenged her, "Oh, do you really want to know what I'm going to do next?"

Chloe arched an eyebrow at him, her anger in full swing. "Yes, Brady Black, I really do."

Brady allowed a satisfied grin to cross his face, resembling a rogue, when he responded to Chloe's order, "Whatever the diva wants!"

With that, Brady hauled Chloe to him, pressing her tightly to his chest and devoured her with a passionate kiss. Chloe moaned into his mouth and clutched Brady around the back, holding him desperately close to her. "Oh, Brady," she murmured, her anger and frustration at him disappearing with the amount of desire they were exhibiting together. "Please, Brady, I want more."

Brady pulled back and gazed deeply into her eyes, allowing Chloe to see the burning passion that was nipping at his heels. He lifted Chloe up in his strong arms and started to carry her into his bedroom. "Your wish is my command," he said to her as he strode meaningfully through his bedroom door.

Chloe felt the softness of his bed below her back as he placed her on his black satin sheets. Her mind completely shut down as she watched Brady pull his sweater over his head and then lean down over her. "Oh my!" she gasped, as her eyes devoured the newly revealed skin.

"Like it?" Brady teased as he laid himself down beside her on his large bed, inviting Chloe with a look to come and explore his chest. She complied quickly, allowing her hands to run over his muscles, causing them to jump in reflex. She giggled slightly in response, until Brady took over, and pinned her to his bed.

"My turn now," he breathed breathlessly into her ear. His hands slid slowly under her shirt, bringing the shirt up and over her head. He tossed it carelessly behind him, and gazed in admiration at the goddess before him. "Oh god," he exclaimed slightly, closing his eyes against the amazing sight. "Give me strength!" He had to pause, briefly, otherwise this whole, passionate, amazing experience would be over before it had really began.

Chloe saw Brady's reaction and understood it completely. A knowing smile crossed her face as her hands found their way around Brady's back, pulling him closer and closer to him. She met his lips and pressed another kiss to them, opening her mouth to him and allowing his tongue entrance.

Brady soon forgot about praying for patience and devoured Chloe's mouth swiftly. His hands went behind her back and deftly unhooked her bra. The second her breasts were freed from their entrapment, Brady filled both hands with them, causing both of them to groan. He couldn't resist the temptation to trail a line of kisses down to Chloe's breasts, and suckle first one nipple, and then the other, in his mouth.

Chloe was beyond rational thought as she writhed underneath Brady. "More, more, more," she chanted mindlessly as she pushed her breast up, seeking Brady's adoring attention.

Brady focused on one breast while his other hand slipped down farther, searching for the ultimate pleasure for Chloe. When he found it and slipped his finger inside, Chloe nearly screamed for the enjoyment he gave. "I'm not going to survive this," Brady murmured to Chloe as he used his free hand to wipe the rest of his clothes off clumsily, wanting to get as close to Chloe as humanly possibly right now.

When he was completely naked, Brady searched for and found Chloe's lips, tangling them up together while he discarded the rest of Chloe's clothes. He had to see exactly what Chloe looked like when she was finally, blissfully, nude, so he broke contact for a minute and gazed upon her with wonder and awe. "Chloe," he whispered, "you are too damn beautiful to possibly be real."

"Oh, I'm real, all right," Chloe answered, with passion thickening her voice, "and I'm going to be really angry if you don't come back down to me."

Brady couldn't believe that he could laugh at the most profound experience of his life, but he did. He leaned down and kissed Chloe again, allowing his hands to explore the satiny softness of her skin. Finally, when he thought he was about to explode and he couldn't prevent the need any longer, Brady reached into his dresser drawer and pulled out a condom.

"Know this, Chloe," he whispered to her as he prepared to protect her, "know this for sure. I haven't been with anyone like this, since we broke up. I couldn't. Any woman paled, in comparison to you."

A smile broke through Chloe's face, like a ray of light on a stormy day. "Oh, Brady!" she answered back. Then, she admitted her own secret to him. "Only you, Brady, only you."

When Brady realized what she was telling him, he rewarded her with the largest smile. He kissed her again, to show her his extreme pleasure, and then slowly entered her, trying not to cause her any pain.

Chloe stiffened slightly at the new pressure down below, but she forced herself to relax, knowing that Brady would never hurt her. When Brady felt her relax, he inched his way into her slowly, savoring each second of the most awesome feeling of his life. Brady finally and carefully crashed through her barrier, and groaned at the ultimate pleasure. He pushed himself up on his arms because he wanted to see Chloe's reaction.

Chloe opened her eyes when she sensed Brady looking down at her. "Brady, oh, Brady! I never imagined how wonderful it would feel!"

"It only gets better," Brady promised her smugly as he started to move inside her, causing Chloe to gasp with the new feelings he created. She pulled him down to her, wanting to feel his body on top of hers, while he continued to set a nice, easy rhythm, teaching Chloe how to move with him.

She caught on quickly, and soon had pushed Brady into a much faster pace than he had started with. Incredible feelings of passion and excitement were building with her, and Brady wanted her to experience it all before he did. He could feel her climax coming, from the pulsating vibes from inside her. When he felt the wave crash and break around Chloe, he held her tightly to him and prepared for his own, unbelievable climax.

When it was over, Brady slid off Chloe and pulled her tightly to him. "Well?" he asked her, gently brushing his hand over her hair.

Chloe grinned sleepily as she answered, "Amazing, Brady, absolutely amazing." She laid her head on his shoulder and promptly fell asleep, weak from the passion they had just shared.

Brady held her for a little while. Then, he gently entangled himself from her and reluctantly left the bed. He went to his dresser and searched for something very important. When he found it, he walked back to Chloe and gently placed it around her neck. "Perfect," he said, as he inspected his handiwork.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter Thirty-Four**

About half an hour later after the most amazing experience of her life, Chloe Lane woke up, a little disoriented from her unfamiliar surroundings. "Was it a dream?" she wondered before she forced herself to open her eyes. She looked around, recognizing Brady's bedroom. She leaned back down on the fluffy pillows, ecstatic that she was actually in Brady Black's bedroom.

She allowed a happy, contented smile to spread across her face. "We made love," she whispered to herself, excited about their passionate exchange in naked splendor. But, then, she realized something, something that wasn't quite right. She sat up quickly in bed again, and looked around the dark room.

Where was Brady? she wondered, starting to feel her old insecurities rise again where Brady Black was concerned. "Did he tell me that he loved me?" she wondered aloud, suddenly feeling anxious and afraid. "What if…" Her eyes grew in horror, as she remembered the last time she had been in Brady Black's apartment. He had offered her sex, passionate sex, in place of making love.

"Does he still feel that way?" Chloe asked herself, looking around her wildly. Then, she felt something lightly hit her chest after she had spun her head around, landing just above her breasts. She looked down curiously, wondering what it was.

"Hmm," Chloe murmured to herself as she reached for the necklace, "I don't remember putting a necklace on today." She brought it up closer, for a clearer inspection, when she realized where the necklace had come from.

She was out of the bed like a shot, her hopes soaring, as she carelessly threw Brady's sweater over her head. It went down to her knees, but Chloe didn't care. She sprinted through the bedroom and into the living room, where she came to a sudden and complete halt. There, sipping a glass of bottled water, was Brady Black, clad only in his boxers.

Chloe forced her eyes to stay focused on Brady's face, not his amazing body, when he turned around to greet her. She didn't realize that her face revealed everything to Brady for once; her vulnerability, her hope, her love, her fear.

Brady recognized every emotion on Chloe's face because he felt them, too. Chloe had always made him feel weak because he couldn't control the wide range of emotions she caused in him. And, he realized, he did the same thing to her. They were two strong-willed people, people who did not like depending on anyone else. It must have been fate that brought them together, proving to them how much they needed each other. He watched her as she slowly approached him and noticed that her hand was clutching his mother's necklace tightly.

"I hated giving this back to you," Chloe began as she approached him. "It was horrible. I had to force my hand to stop shaking that night on the pier, otherwise you would have discovered that I really didn't want to give it up."

"You are the only woman who will ever wear this necklace," Brady said in reply as his hands lifted the necklace from her grip, allowing the light to reflect off of the gold. "You are so special, Chloe. I have only been existing since you've been gone. I buried myself at Basic Black, working very hard, in order to banish you from my mind. I failed completely, Chloe, even though I tried to convince everyone, and myself, that I was over you, but I never succeeded. There is no getting over you, Chloe Lane. You are my soulmate."

He watched as the woman he had recently called an "ice princess" allowed quiet tears of joy to seep out from her eyes. "I love you, Chloe," Brady told her softly, admitting it aloud for the first time in three years, knowing that now was the time to share everything with her. "I will always love you."

Chloe ignored her tears as she looked at Brady, amazed by the words he was sharing with her. "Brady, convince me that this is not a dream, that you are really here, telling me that you love me."

Brady could see the insecurity in Chloe, and he understood it well. He gently pulled Chloe into his arms and said, as he nuzzled her hair, "Let's go back into my bedroom. There's something there I really want to show you. It will prove to you that I have always loved you."

"I think you already have, shown me, that is" Chloe teased him slightly, referring to the passionate exchange they had recently shared on his bed.

Brady stopped and shared a pleased grin with Chloe, who smiled just as smugly back. "Oh, we'll get back to that. Believe me. One taste of you, Chloe Lane, and I am an addicted man." He winked at her and then e kissed her on her forehead. Then, Brady continued, "No, this is something that will prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt exactly that I have never stopped loving you. Come on."

Chloe looked at Brady in confusion as he prodded her along into his room. He led her directly to his dresser, which surprised her. She was still holding out for his bed. When he reached his dresser, Brady kneeled down and searched through the bottom door. "What are you looking for?" Chloe asked curiously, her interest peaked. "Hopefully not a bunch of dirty, stinky, smelly socks!"

Brady looked up at her, a smirk showing on his face. He slowly stood up, holding a box in his arms. "Just for that, Diva, I don't think I want to share this with you now."

Chloe reached for the box as Brady held it high, completely out of her reach. "Brady Black!" she ordered him huffily. "Let me see what's in the box!" She jumped up, trying to dislodge it from his hand.

"Be careful," Brady said seriously, knowing that his next words would give the secret away, "it's fragile."

The playful look left Chloe's face as she realized what the box contained. A look of unbelievable sweetness and love crossed her face as she stopped trying to get the box. "Brady, is it?" she inquired softly, holding her breath.

He brought the box down and held it in front of her. "Go ahead," he prompted her tenderly, "open the box." Brady looked at her eagerly, anticipating her reaction to the treasure within the box.

Chloe placed the box gently on top of his dresser and slowly opened it, being careful not to upset it. She reached in through the mound of protective tissue paper and pulled out the treasure. It was the glass heart with her name engraved on it that she had given him, her special Christmas present to him, the night of the Christmas Ball three years earlier, before her world had been destroyed by her father, Stefano DiMera. "You kept it," she said in awe, reverently inspecting the glass heart.

Brady crossed his arms as he replied, "Of course I did, Chloe." Then he sighed and admitted to her, "I tried to smash it, to shatter it into a million pieces, the night you ended things on the pier. But, I couldn't do it. I've tried so many times since then to hurl it against the wall. But, I couldn't."

"Why couldn't you break it?" Chloe asked, breathlessly waiting for the answer. She had assumed that Brady would have broken it a long time ago, to reflect the anger he felt about her rejecting him. She also knew that Brady had experienced a lot of pain by her actions.

"I promised myself I would, when I was completely over you." Brady gently took the glass heart with Chloe's name it and held it high up in the air. Chloe's eyes followed the movement. "I have never gotten over you, Chloe, ever. You are my world, my heart, my soul."

Chloe flung herself into Brady's arms, feeling all of the hurt and pain of the past three years slowly disappearing into thin air. She loved this kind, tender, handsome, infuriating man so much! "Brady, I am so amazed by you, by your love for me that stood by the worst possible test ever!"

Brady breathed in the scent of her, so completely relieved that Chloe was here, and in his arms again. "Our love is forever, Chloe, forever. Not even the evil Stefano DiMera could keep us apart." Chloe snuggled into his arms, so happy with where she was right now. The two held onto each other, treasuring the love that had reunited them. Slowly, their hearts began to heal and to mend as they embraced lovingly in Brady's bedroom, with Chloe's glass heart held carefully in Brady's hand.

Brady gently placed the glass heart back in the box. Then, he pulled her to him tighter, and then whispered lowly into her ear, "You know, you did very well for your first time." When Chloe looked at him, puzzlement clearly evident in her eyes, he pointed to his bed. "Over there. But, I think you could, ah, benefit from some more practice."

Chloe smirked slightly at him, as she realized exactly where this was going. The tenderness of the moment was gone, as the two of them prepared to spar, one of their favorite pastimes. "And I am certain that you would love to be the one to tutor me?" she asked him smartly, arching her eyebrow at him.

"The thought did cross my mind," Brady answered tauntingly, enjoying their banter. "And I really don't have anything pressing to do right now, so…"

Chloe hit him on the arm and pretended to be offended. "Brady Black, I will not be a mere diversion to you!" She attempted to flounce away, only to scream playfully when Brady picked her up roughly and dropped her on the bed. He followed her down.

"A diversion, huh?" he asked her, tickling her sides, which caused Chloe to let out ripples of laughter. Brady stopped tickling her and admitted to her, seriously, "Chloe, you could never be a diversion. You are everything to me." With that, Brady brought his head down again to kiss his diva slowly and tenderly, igniting a fire between them that would never burn out.


	35. Chapter 35

**Epilogue**

"Are we there yet, Brady?" Chloe asked him, disgruntlement clear in her voice. She was dressed in a red velvet gown with thin spaghetti straps across her shoulders. Her hair was up and adorned with sparkling clips that reflected the moonlight. And, most surprising of all, a black blindfold completed her outfit. "I really would like to see where we're going!"

Brady looked over his shoulder at Chloe and allowed a wide grin to cross his face, knowing that Chloe would not witness his humor in the situation. She had been a pretty good sport about the whole blindfold thing, but Brady could tell that her patience was being stretched thin. "Just a little farther," he answered her, using a soothing tone that he knew would ignite her temper.

As usual, he was right. "Brady Black!" Chloe practically snarled at him in response to his calm tone. "I'm cold, I can't see where I'm going, and I wanted to stay longer at the reception! You'd better show me this "special" place and soon!" She crossed her arms over her chest to display her extreme displeasure.

Brady continued to grin, pleased that Chloe had reacted so predictably. One of these days, she was going to realize that he purposefully argued with her, just to witness her fantastic reactions. Their fights were always very stimulating. He ignored her remarks for the moment and placed his hands on her shoulders, positioning her in the exact spot he wanted her. "All right, Chloe Lane," he said, turning her head slightly. "Almost ready. I'll be back in one minute. Stay here."

Chloe heard Brady's footsteps as he walked away from her. "You are going to pay for this, Brady Black!" she muttered under her breath. "Stay here, indeed! Where the hell would I go? I can't see a damn thing!"

While she waited for Brady to come back to her, she remembered how he had pulled her away from the reception at Tuscany. Bo and Hope, the newly remarried couple, had recently left the restaurant, amidst a lot of cheering and good wishes for a happy honeymoon. Chloe and Greta had been Hope's bridesmaids while Jennifer Horton Devereaux had been her matron of honor. Everyone at the wedding and the reception had been extremely happy for the reconciled couple, especially Shawn. He had been Bo's best man. It had been a beautiful Valentine's Day wedding.

"What are you smiling about?" Brady asked Chloe, as he came back to her a few minutes later. He hadn't expected his diva to be smiling. Ranting or raving, maybe, but definitely not smiling.

"I was remembering the wedding," Chloe admitted dreamily to Brady. "After all of the horrible things that had happened over the past three years, I never thought our lives would end up so happily. I mean, Greta and Ethan love living in Salem and are extremely, well, blissful is the only word that comes to mind. And Hope, wow. She reconciled with Shawn and remarried Bo today. Her family is whole again, and stronger than ever. The three of us never thought our dreams could come true again."

Brady put his arms on Chloe's shoulders, holding her loosely. His fingers went to the tie of the blindfold, teasing her with the sensation, but he didn't take it off yet. "Have your dreams come true?" he asked her solemnly.

Chloe smiled as she replied, "Well, I started my singing lessons recently. You know? That opera singer Greta talked me into hiring? And I love singing! Greta had such a great idea when she suggested that I take private lessons here, instead of going to Julliard." Her smile bloomed inwardly as she continued, "And Notorious is doing wonderful. The three of us are so glad that we merged with Basic Black."

Brady arched his eyebrow at her, a la John Black, and prompted her impatiently, "And?"

Chloe tapped her chin as she pondered his one word question. "Oh, yes! And I am such good friends with Belle again! I missed her a lot when I was in Europe!" She giggled when Brady slapped her lightly on her butt. "Oh, all right, I admit it, Brady! You are the most precious dream of mine that has come true!"

He pulled her into his arms and hugged her. "Ditto," he replied simply, breathing the word into her ear.

"Ditto?" Chloe asked as she leaned back haughtily in his arms. Brady could see her eyebrows raise above the blindfold. "Here I am, telling you that you are the most amazing thing in my life, the most important dream I have ever had, and all you can say is "ditto"?"

When she paused for breath in her tirade, he placed his finger on her lips to prevent her from saying anything else. "Ssshhh," he ordered her quietly. Very soon she would know exactly how important she was to him. "I want you to see what I have arranged for you." Chloe's curiosity won over her indignation and she waited breathlessly as Brady slowly untied her blindfold.

The sight that met her eyes was poignantly beautiful. "Oh, Brady," she breathed out slowly, taking in the lighted gazebo against the snowy backdrop. "I should have known this is where you were taking me! I remember the first time we came here together."

Brady took her hand and pulled her gently up the few steps and into the gazebo as he responded to her memory, "That wonderful summer, when I had you all to myself. We came here and sang those corny songs from "The Sound Of Music.""

Chloe pushed him lightly on his chest. "Those songs are not corny. They're nostalgic." She slowly turned around in the gazebo, completing a full circle as she gazed with wide-open eyes at the beautiful sight around her. "You told me, that day, that you used to take dates here. To impress them with your romantic side, right?" She looked at him over her shoulder, arching an eyebrow at Brady.

Brady laughed as he admitted to her, "You're right. But there's only one woman I take here now." He felt for the surprise in his pocket and his hands started to sweat a little as he approached Chloe, before she could remember what else he had said about the gazebo that long ago summer night.

"We came here so many other times, in our relationship," Chloe continued her stroll down memory lane as she watched Brady approach her slowly. "The last time we were here you gave me this." She held up his mother's necklace. The moonlight sparkled off of it, pleasing Chloe with the beautiful glow it created.

"And you gave me your heart, both literally and figuratively," Brady supplied the rest of the memory for her. "That was one of the last times I was completely happy, Chloe, until the night on the pier. Remember, after I listened to the tape from Greta that explained all of your actions to me? I went through three years of complete darkness, Chloe."

Chloe reached for Brady's hands and clasped them tightly as she listened to him recall his pain at their separation, initiated by her through the manipulations of her father, Stefano DiMera. "I know, Brady. You were always my "silver lining." My life was totally black and bleak without you."

A cocky grin crossed Brady's face. "Never again, though, Chloe." She leaned up to kiss him but Brady prevented her by placing his hand on one of her shoulders. "Not yet," he said to her. "There's still something else I need to do, to make this night complete."

Chloe watched, puzzled, as Brady looked into her eyes intently. She knew that he could see her soul in her eyes, just like she could read his. Their connection was so intense, so electric, and had proven to be unbreakable. Stefano DiMera had engineered their break-up, but their love had prevailed, against all odds. "Well?" she finally asked him as Brady continued to stare at her.

"You will never see this again," Brady warned her as he prepared to humble himself before Chloe. He took a deep breath and slowly sank to one knee in front of Chloe. It took a second for Chloe to understand what was going on. Tears of joy and love immediately flooded her eyes, and slowly cascaded down her face as she brought up one hand to cover her mouth in pleased surprise.

Brady gently and reverently took Chloe's hand in his and looked up into her face. Chloe smiled through her tears when she correctly interpreted the look in his eyes. He hated being down on his knee, she realized, in front of her. Pleading was NOT something Brady Black ever did, so she prepared to enjoy it.

"We were talking, earlier, about dreams, Chloe Lane," Brady began slowly, feeling love for this incredible woman start to overflow his heart. "My dream, my one and only dream, has been you, ever since that night I first saw you on the pier. You are my soulmate, Chloe, the one person who is connected to me on all levels." He took a deep breath and prepared to take the final plunge. "I love you, more than I ever thought I could love anyone in this world."

Chloe had enough of Brady on one knee, which was so uncharacteristic, and she slowly sank down on her knees. They were now face to face. She brought her hand to Brady's face and gently caressed it. She said simply to him, knowing that he would never want to have the sentiments embellished with pretty, meaningless words, "I love you."

Brady covered her hand with his and turned his face into her touch. His other hand reached into his pocket and he pulled out a small box, causing Chloe to gasp when she saw the box. The words came out easily to him as he asked her, "Will you marry me?"

Chloe threw herself into Brady's arms, nearly knocking them to the ground, as she enthusiastically answered him, "Oh my god, yes, Brady, yes!" Tears continued to fall down her face as her dreams finally came true.

Brady pulled her tightly to him and kissed her with passionate gentleness. When he broke the kiss finally, Brady teased her tenderly, "I'm not letting you go back on your answer, Diva, even if you don't like the ring."

Chloe opened her eyes, which were sparkling brilliantly with tears of happiness, and exclaimed softly, "Oh, the ring! Let me see the ring, Brady!" Her eyes pleaded with Brady to see the tangible proof of his love and commitment.

Brady stood up from the ground and looked down at Chloe, who was kneeling at his feet now. He held the box high in the air and teased her, "If you want it, you'd better come get it." He took off and ran lightly down the steps of the gazebo.

Chloe's eyes sparked with annoyance and she quickly climbed to her feet and sprinted after him. Well, attempted to sprint. She was wearing her high heels from the wedding and couldn't move very well in them. "Brady!" she called out impatiently, "I can't run in the snow with these damn shoes!"

Brady turned around and watched as Chloe hobbled slowly down the steps. They were tough shoes to run in, he decided, so he came back to her. "Giving up already, Diva?" he asked her when he neared her.

"Not on your life!" Chloe exclaimed triumphantly when she grabbed the box from his hands, ecstatic that her ploy had worked. Brady wasn't the only one in the relationship with a few tricks up his sleeve, she thought inwardly. She quickly flipped open the lid and looked at the ring inside.

Brady watched anxiously as Chloe gazed at the ring. When she didn't say anything, he said to her worriedly, "Don't worry if you don't like it, Chloe. We can always go pick out something together."

Chloe's eyes, which had sparkled before during Brady's proposal, were now radiant with happiness as she turned her gaze on Brady. He breathed in deeply at the look he correctly read in her eyes. "Take it back? I don't think so, Brady. It's perfect! But, how did you know?"

Brady gently took the box out of Chloe's grip. He held the ring in-between them, so they could both see the sight. "We aren't exactly normal, typical people, Chloe. Somehow, a diamond just didn't fit you. I looked at so many beautiful, amazing diamonds at the jewelry store, but none of them were right. For you or for us. " He turned the gorgeous princess-cut sapphire over in his hand, watching the moonlight glint off of it. "This ring, when I saw it, called to me, Chloe. It matches your eyes perfectly."

Chloe looked up in wonder and awe at the man in front of her. He knew her so well. "Life is going to be perfect," she whispered to him as she gifted him with her gorgeous smile. "Put it on!"

"Your wish is my command," Brady answered her flippantly as he picked up her left hand and solemnly slid the ring onto her ring finger. "A perfect fit."

"We certainly are," Chloe agreed with him as she hugged him tightly. She whispered into his ears, "And I suppose this is where you want to get married? I seem to remember you once telling me that this is the perfect place for a wedding."

"You know me so well," Brady noted, laughter evident in his voice, as he phrased Chloe's recent thoughts aloud. He twirled her around in a circle as he laughed. "What do you think about June?" Chloe's laughter joined his as she nodded her head in agreement.

When they left a few minutes later to head back to Brady's apartment, Chloe snuggled against Brady's chest. She admired her ring and then looked up into Brady's handsome face before he started his jeep. I will never take him for granted. Not after the events of the past three years. Life was finally perfect, she thought blissfully.

 **The End of The Storm Trilogy**

Brady and Chloe's story will be continued in the next story in **The Storm Series** , **Against All Odds**.


End file.
